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Fuel cells are a very promising technology for the clean and efficient production of power. Fuel Cell Technology is an up-to-date survey of the development of this technology and will be bought by researchers and graduate students in materials control and chemical engineering working at universities and institutions and researchers and technical managers in commercial companies working in fuel cell technology.
List of contents
Introduction
PEM Fuel Cells - Overview
SOFC - Overview
Fuel Cell Systems Design and Integration
Fuels and Fuel Processing
Transport Phenomena Modeling
System Level Modeling
Durability and Accelerated Characterization of Fuel Cells
Diagnostics
Control
Alternative Fuels for Fuel Cells: Microbial Fuel Cells
About the author
The book will be edited by the Center’s Director, Professor Nigel Sammes. Professor Sammes has been the head of the Center since its inception and was previously a researcher in industry and a full professor of materials and process engineering at the University of Waikato, New Zealand.
Summary
Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert the energy of a fuel (such as hydrogen, natural gas or other hydrocarbon-based fuels) directly into electricity. All fuel cells consist of an electrolyte layer in contact with an anode and a cathode on either side. The oxidation reaction occurs on the anode side of the fuel cell, while reduction takes place on the cathode. Single fuel cells are usually connected either in series, or in parallel, to form a stack, which is capable of producing s- eral watts to many kW of power, depending on the requirements. The fuel cell stack requires a number of other components to complete the s- tem. These components are usually termed the balance-of-plant (BoP) and consist of the fuel cell processing section, the power section (the components surrounding the stack itself) and the power conditioning and control units. Fuel processing is required to produce a hydrogen-rich gas (and possibly to desulfurize the gas), while the power-conditioning unit is there to convert variable DC to controlled AC current, with a specific frequency, active and reactive power. It also acts as fe- back to control the fuel flow to the stack.
