Development of a PEM Fuel Cell
Tianhao Tang, Jingang Han, Gang Yao and Yongrui Feng
Department of Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China
Abstract-This paper presents development of a Proton
Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell boat. A hybrid energy
system consists of a PEM fuel cell stack and batteries. Such
a system is expected to be used in the next generation
electric propulsion system with more efficient and zero
emission to replace the traditional diesel engine system in
the future. The design and test of the fuel cell boat will be
discussed in the paper.
I. INTRODUCTION
With the requirement for saving energy and reducing
environment, some types of new and regenerative energy
have been researched in recent years. Fuel cell is a clean
energy without pollution to be seen as a kind of possible
new energy in the future. Particularly, it could be utilized
in various vehicles for propulsion. Because fuel cell
vehicles promise to be far more efficient, produce low or
zero emissions, and operate cleaner than conventional
vehicle, it is known as a hopeful power to replace diesel
engine and gasoline engine.
There are several type fuel cells to be developed in
recent years [1]. The Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM)
and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) are mainly
considered for electric vehicles. PEM fuel cells use a
solid polymer as an electrolyte and porous carbon
electrodes containing a platinum catalyst [1], [2] and [3].
They need only hydrogen, oxygen from the air, and water
to operate and do not require corrosive fluids like some
fuel cells. They are typically fueled with pure hydrogen
supplied from storage tanks or onboard reformers.
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells operate at
relatively low temperatures, around 80°C. Low
temperature operation allows them to start quickly and
results in less wear on system components, resulting in
better durability. However, it requires that a noble-metal
catalyst (typically platinum) be used to separate the
hydrogen's electrons and protons, adding to system cost.
The platinum catalyst is also extremely sensitive to CO
poisoning, making it necessary to employ an additional
reactor to reduce CO in the fuel gas if the hydrogen is
derived from an alcohol or hydrocarbon fuel. This also
adds cost. A significant barrier to using PEM fuel cells in
vehicles is hydrogen storage. PEM fuel cell vehicles
powered by pure hydrogen must store the hydrogen on
board as a compressed gas in pressurized tanks. Due to
the low energy density of hydrogen, it is difficult to store
enough hydrogen on board to allow vehicles to travel the
same distance as gasoline-powered vehicles before
refueling.
Solid oxide fuel cells operate at very high
temperatures around 1,000°C as in [1] and [4]. High
1-4244-0121-6/06/$20.00 (C2006 IEEE 1385
Boat
temperature operation removes the need for precious-
metal catalyst, thereby reducing cost. It also allows
SOFCs to reform fuels internally, which enables the use
of a variety of fuels and reduces the cost associated with
adding a reformer to the system. SOFCs are also the most
sulfur-resistant fuel cell type; they can tolerate several
orders of magnitude more sulfur than other cell types. In
addition, they are not poisoned by carbon monoxide (CO),
which can even be used as fuel. This allows SOFCs to
use gases made from coal. High-temperature operation
has disadvantages. It results in a slow startup and requires
significant thermal shielding to retain heat and protect
personnel, which may be acceptable for utility
applications but not for transportation and small portable
applications. The high operating temperatures also place
stringent durability requirements on materials.
Due to their fast startup time and favorable power-to-
weight ratio, PEM fuel cells are particularly suitable for
use in passenger vehicles. Electric cars have been
researched for years and many papers described the
design and development in this field. However, there is a
very few paper to report the fuel cell boat in the world.
In this paper, a hybrid energy system consists of a
PEM fuel cell stack and batteries were designed for an
electric boat. In the system, PEM fuel cell provides
propulsion for the vehicle and charges the batteries when
cruising. The battery set is used to provide power supply
for system starting. If it is required, both the battery pack
and the PEM fuel cell system can cooperate to provide
supply power to the propulsion motor.
II. PEM FUEL CELL BOAT PROPULSION SYSTEM
A. PEMFuel Cell System
A PEM fuel cell is a device that converts pure
hydrogen into electricity by a simple oxidation reaction.
The products of the electrochemical process are
electricity, heat and water. A block diagram of a fuel-cell
stack system is shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. PEM fuel cell system
EPE-PEMC 2006, Portoro2, Slovenia
 In the PEM fuel cell, the gases enter at the electrodes,
which are porous. Hydrogen enters at the anode electrode,
and oxygen at the cathode electrode. At the anode, the
positive hydrogen ions diffuse across the membrane of
the fuel cell while the electrons flow to the load (see (1)).
Hydrogen diffuses very quickly, increasing its reaction
probability. The positive hydrogen ions, once they have
diffused across the membrane, react with the oxygen at
the cathode, producing water and heat (see (2)). A small
amount of water is also produced at the hydrogen
electrode. Water is carried out of the fuel cell as vapor,
provided none has condensed within the cell. The fuel
cell membranes must remain moist, but cannot be flooded.
Oxidation half reaction:
H2 = 2H+ + 2e- (1)
Reduction half reaction:
4H+ ±2+ + 4e = 2H20 (2)
Cell reaction:
2H2 + 02 = H20 (3)
The FEM fuel cell is a complicated nonlinear system
because of the issues associated with chemical reaction,
electronic components, motor, humidity and temperature
change.
Battery
Fig. 2 System structure of fuel cell system
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The fuel cell requires the flow of hydrogen and air.
And these gases must be within a fixed pressure range to
prevent damage to the cell. The hydrogen is carried on
board in highly compressed state so that it only needs to
be regulated down to the necessary pressure. The air, on
the other hand, must be compressed. In addition, the flow
rate must be controllable since the flow is directly related
to the current produced. Air and hydrogen must be
humidified in order to maintain optimum performance of
the fuel cell stack. De-ionized water is used. The water
pressure for the injection must exceed the gas pressure.
For it's high resistivity, De-ionized is also used to remove
the heat. But the flow rate of the water is directly related
to the rate at which water can take the heat away. To
achieve the optimum efficiency of the fuel cell, the
temperature must be kept in its operating range. And a
water-cooling system is applied.
The fuel cell's performance is directly related to a large
number of factors, which must be monitored and
controlled. A DSP based real time system is used to
monitor and control these parameters. An adaptive
control algorithm is used to guarantee the speed of air
pump, water pump and fan to be changed according to
stack operating conditions. When conditions range too far
from the desired range, a warning is given, and in
especially critical cases, emergency shutdown is initiated.
Heat
exchange
 The stack is fed with pure dry hydrogen and air at
pressures (5 psig). The operating temperature can't go
over 80°C. A PEM fuel cell can generate between 0.6V
and 0.8V under typical operating conditions. In this case
a 2kW fuel cell is used (40 cells). The open circuit
voltage is around 32V and the nominal voltage is
obtained around 25V. The voltage should not drop
under20V to keep the stack safe. The range of current is
between 10A and 90A. Polarization curve of single cell is
shown in Fig.3.

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In the system, a battery set is used to provide power

supply for system starting. If it is required, both the
battery pack and the PEM fuel cell system can cooperate
to provide supply power to the propulsion motor in some
special operating conditions. Since the output electrical
power of the fuel cell stack is designed to exceed the
12 0f
the operating voltage of the motors. A 1.5kW motor
drives the propeller.
Because the fuel cell system provides the main power
for the boat, then the range of the vehicle sailing will just
depend on the amount of hydrogen or fuel that is stored
on board. Usually, fuel cell boat has the ability to sail
more longer distance than the boat just uses battery at the
same operating condition and the weight of the electric
propulsion system.
Considering the low energy density of hydrogen, a
compressed gas tank is used to store more hydrogen on
board to allow boat to travel longer distance. The tanks
are 1050mm long and 345mm diameter, laid horizontally.
The tank tare weight is 29kg. Its service pressure is
20Mpa and the fuel storage capacity is 70 liters.
III. FUEL CELL BOAT MONITORING
The control of the system has also been greatly
developed in Fig. 4. It is composed of a PLC (Schneider)
and an IPC (Schneider). A software in the controller
(LF2407) of fuel cell permits the connection of the IPC
on which specially adapted acquisition programs have
been installed. And MODBUS is used to connect the PLC
and IPC. A userfriendly interface shows the working
parameters in real time and stores them in a database for
further analysis in Fig.5. At the same time, the operator is
informed of any criticial system conditions to facilitate
user intervention when needed.

average power demands of the vehicle, the batteries can

be charged while the boat sailing. Particularly, for ship
and passengers security, the battery set can provide power
for ship propulsion alone, if the fuel cell system has
problems or faults.
....I

C. Power Traint
The fuel cell boat propulsion system [5]-[7] is shown in a \]
Fig. 2. Inside the fuel cell stack, the hydrogen and air are
combined to produce electricity and heat. The output
voltage of the stack is conditioned using a power A
conditioner to obtain the required voltage to the r
propulsion inverter. A battery is generally connected
across the fuel cell system to provide supplemental power
and for starting the system. Battery Propeller
Fuel cell
When the boat is started, the power to the propulsion
motor is provided from the battery. During the rapid Fig. 4. Control system
acceleration, power is provided by the fuel cell and the
battery. When the boat reaches the steady speed, only the
fuel cell will be providing the propulsion power and
charges the battery.
The fuel cell stack output is approximately 30V at open
circuit and 24V at full load. Due the fact, a boost DC/DC
converter is used and its output voltage is 50.8V. Another
DC/DC converter (24V) connected to the battery is used
for the control system to power the air pump, water pump,
fan and etc. There is also an inverter (300W) that
transfers the 48VDC to 220V AC for IPC.
The battery system consists of 4, 12 volt, 7.5-amp hour
of Lead Acid batteries. These batteries are arranged in
series to produce a total box voltage of 48 volts, which is Fig. 5. Software for fuel cell

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 IV. SYSTEM TESTING
A series system testing has been done to show the
performance of the fuel cell system, electric propulsion
and the boat.
The test proved the power loss to be expected. Power
consumption in fuel cell system are:
* Air pump and water pump, 240 W
* Cooling Fan, Relays, wire, diode, controller and
purge valve, 60 W
* DC/DC converter, about 150W (it could be reduced
to 1OOW in the future production)
The fuel cell boat showed that the hybrid system works
properly. The stack provided main power to run the
trolling motor. The main function of the battery is for
system starting and acceleration:
* When the load is light, the stack has the recharging
capability to the batteries.
* When the load is heavy, such as accelerating the
motor, the battery provides extra power.
* There is no specific battery charger. The batteries
are charging and discharging based on load
condition.
Fig.6 shows the photo of the fuel cell boat was
sailing on the river. The technical specifications of this
are: dimensions 4.8 x 2 m, speed 13-15 km/h, 2
passengers.
Fig. 6. Photo of the PEM boat in sailing
Fig. 7 shows a photo of the fuel cell boat was exhibited
in the 6th international industry exhibition held in
Shanghai of China in November 2005.
Fig. 7. Photo of the PEM boat on exhibition
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The experiment proved that the fuel cell controller
worked very well and met the design requirements:
The pump speed for air flowing can be adjusted based on
the output power.
* Cooling fan and temperature protection worked
properly. The fan turned on and off according to the
set temperatures.
* The DC converter maintained the constant voltage
when the stack voltage varied. The maximum power
from the hybrid structure satisfied to accelerate the
motor.
* The battery can be charged and discharged
according to the system operation.
* The purge time can be changed with output power.
The fuel cell controller is easy to extend the other
functions for product development.
V. CONCLUSION
This work led to propose the design and control
requirements of a PEM fuel cell boat. A test is realized
and some conclusion could be got:
1) Fuel cell system is suitable for boat;
2) The operation is clean, reliable and silent.
In the future a communication net will be set up and
the signals will be transmitted by the CAN bus.
REFERENCES
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Operational Characteristics of Automotive PEM Fuel Cell Stacks",
Society ofAutomotive Engineer, Inc., 1998.
[3] Parten, M.E., Maxwell,T.T., et.al., "Modeling a PEM Fuel Cell for
Use in a Hybrid Electric Vehicle," Proceedings of IEEE Vehicular
echnology Conference, Houston, Texas, May, 1999.
[4] J Zizelman, S Shaffer, S Mukerjee. Solid oxide fuel cell auxiliary
power unit - A development update [A]. SAE 2002 World
Congress [C]. Detroit, MI, USA, 2002. 2002-01-0411.
[5] K Rajashekara. Power conversion and control strategies for fuel
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USA, Nov. 2003.
[6] Parten, M.E., Maxwell,T.T., et.al., "An Electrically Assisted,
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