Experimental evaluation of a commercially available PEM fuel cell for residential buildings application

Residential buildings claim a large share of the total energy use. Fuel cells in combination with electrolysers and hydrogen storage have been proposed as a solution for a low carbon self-sustaining future. Fuel cell units are able to generate electrical energy by means of hydrogen fuel with little or no emission of greenhouse gasses. Besides generating electricity, fuel cell units produce a certain quantity of heat, which can be used for the heating purposes of residential dwellings. In order to properly integrate the fuel cell units in residential buildings, an understanding of the operational properties is necessary. In this contribution, the performance of a commercially available proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell has been experimentally evaluated. A complete test setup, containing the fuel cell, a buffer electrical battery and a set of discrete loads was built. The fuel cell’s operational behaviour and efficiency are determined for a wide range of applied resistive loads. In addition, the temperature on the exhaust side of the fuel cell is measured for assessing the potential use of the waste heat energy and thus the combined heat and power (CHP) generation application. Lastly, the use of this particular fuel cell unit in a locally based renewable hydrogen production and energy storage system is estimated on a representative residential building case study. For the generated electrical power range between 400 W and 2770 W, the evaluated PEM fuel cell unit resulted in efficiencies between 27.5% to 32.5%. The exhaust temperature of the fuel cell unit vary closely around 25°C and no waste heat can be recovered for further utilization of this particular unit