Maria Serra Prat - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Maria Serra Prat

Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2009

The aim of this paper is to present a simple 3D computational model of a Polymer Electrolyte Memb... more The aim of this paper is to present a simple 3D computational model of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) that simulates over time the heat distribution, energy and mass balance of the reactant gas flows in the fuel cell including pressure drop, humidity and liquid water. Although this theoretical model can be adapted to any type of PEMFC, for verification of the model and to present different analysis, it has been adapted to a single cell test fixture. The model parameters were adjusted through a series of experimental tests and the model was experimentally validated for a well defined range of operating conditions: H2/Air as reactants, flow rates of 0.5-1.5 SLPM, dew points and cell temperatures of 30-80ºC, currents 0-5 A and with/without water condensation. The model is especially suited for the analysis of liquid water condensation in the reactant channels. A key finding is that the critical current at which liquid water is formed is determined at different flows, temperatures and humidity. 0. Nomenclature density of the gas (kg/m 3) viscosity of fluid i (Pa•s) viscosity of the gas (Pa•s) ∞ Subindex, represents ambient node

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 2017

The aim of this research is to develop and test in a simulation environment an advanced model-bas... more The aim of this research is to develop and test in a simulation environment an advanced model-based control solution for a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) system. A Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) strategy is proposed to maximise the active catalytic surface area at the Cathode Catalyst Layer (CCL) to increase the available reaction area of the stack and to avoid starvation at the catalyst sites. The PEMFC stack model includes a spatial discretisation that permits the control strategy to take into account the internal conditions of the system. These internal states are estimated and fed to the NMPC via a Nonlinear Distributed Parameters Observer (NDPO). The air-fed cathode of the PEMFC simulation model includes a two-phase water model for better representation of the stack voltage. The stack temperature is regulated through the use of an active cooling system. The control strategy is evaluated in an automotive application using a driving cycle based on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) profile as the case study.

2016 IEEE Conference on Control Applications (CCA), 2016

This paper presents a new Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) design for an Ethanol Steam R... more This paper presents a new Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) design for an Ethanol Steam Reformer with Pd-Ag membrane separation stage. The reformer is used to produce pure hydrogen able to feed a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. Mass and energy balances are used to obtain the nonlinear dynamic model of both the reforming and the separation stages. Constraints, system nonlinearities and flexible cost function are the main reasons to select an NMPC controller, which is tested against the ordinary differential equations as simulation model, and has an internal model based on the sample data technique.

Journal of Power Sources, 2009

The aim of this work is to investigate which would be a good preliminary plantwide control struct... more The aim of this work is to investigate which would be a good preliminary plantwide control structure for the process of Hydrogen production from bioethanol to be used in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) accounting only steady-state information. The objective is to keep the process under optimal operation point, that is doing energy integration to achieve the maximum efficiency. Ethanol, produced from renewable feedstocks, feeds a fuel processor investigated for steam reforming, followed by high-and lowtemperature shift reactors and preferential oxidation, which are coupled to a polymeric fuel cell. Applying steady-state simulation techniques and using thermodynamic models the performance of the complete system with two different control structures have been evaluated for the most typical perturbations. A sensitivity analysis for the key process variables together with the rigorous operability requirements for the fuel cell are taking into account for defining acceptable plantwide control structure. This is the first work showing an alternative control structure applied to this kind of process.

Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2009

The aim of this paper is to present a simple 3D computational model of a Polymer Electrolyte Memb... more The aim of this paper is to present a simple 3D computational model of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) that simulates over time the heat distribution, energy and mass balance of the reactant gas flows in the fuel cell including pressure drop, humidity and liquid water. Although this theoretical model can be adapted to any type of PEMFC, for verification of the model and to present different analysis, it has been adapted to a single cell test fixture. The model parameters were adjusted through a series of experimental tests and the model was experimentally validated for a well defined range of operating conditions: H2/Air as reactants, flow rates of 0.5-1.5 SLPM, dew points and cell temperatures of 30-80ºC, currents 0-5 A and with/without water condensation. The model is especially suited for the analysis of liquid water condensation in the reactant channels. A key finding is that the critical current at which liquid water is formed is determined at different flows, temperatures and humidity. 0. Nomenclature density of the gas (kg/m 3) viscosity of fluid i (Pa•s) viscosity of the gas (Pa•s) ∞ Subindex, represents ambient node

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 2017

The aim of this research is to develop and test in a simulation environment an advanced model-bas... more The aim of this research is to develop and test in a simulation environment an advanced model-based control solution for a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) system. A Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) strategy is proposed to maximise the active catalytic surface area at the Cathode Catalyst Layer (CCL) to increase the available reaction area of the stack and to avoid starvation at the catalyst sites. The PEMFC stack model includes a spatial discretisation that permits the control strategy to take into account the internal conditions of the system. These internal states are estimated and fed to the NMPC via a Nonlinear Distributed Parameters Observer (NDPO). The air-fed cathode of the PEMFC simulation model includes a two-phase water model for better representation of the stack voltage. The stack temperature is regulated through the use of an active cooling system. The control strategy is evaluated in an automotive application using a driving cycle based on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) profile as the case study.

2016 IEEE Conference on Control Applications (CCA), 2016

This paper presents a new Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) design for an Ethanol Steam R... more This paper presents a new Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) design for an Ethanol Steam Reformer with Pd-Ag membrane separation stage. The reformer is used to produce pure hydrogen able to feed a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. Mass and energy balances are used to obtain the nonlinear dynamic model of both the reforming and the separation stages. Constraints, system nonlinearities and flexible cost function are the main reasons to select an NMPC controller, which is tested against the ordinary differential equations as simulation model, and has an internal model based on the sample data technique.

Journal of Power Sources, 2009

The aim of this work is to investigate which would be a good preliminary plantwide control struct... more The aim of this work is to investigate which would be a good preliminary plantwide control structure for the process of Hydrogen production from bioethanol to be used in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) accounting only steady-state information. The objective is to keep the process under optimal operation point, that is doing energy integration to achieve the maximum efficiency. Ethanol, produced from renewable feedstocks, feeds a fuel processor investigated for steam reforming, followed by high-and lowtemperature shift reactors and preferential oxidation, which are coupled to a polymeric fuel cell. Applying steady-state simulation techniques and using thermodynamic models the performance of the complete system with two different control structures have been evaluated for the most typical perturbations. A sensitivity analysis for the key process variables together with the rigorous operability requirements for the fuel cell are taking into account for defining acceptable plantwide control structure. This is the first work showing an alternative control structure applied to this kind of process.