In the present study, a rigorous dynamic and control-oriented model is developed towards accurately describing the autonomous operation of a methanol reforming-fuel cell power system (up to 5 kW_el). The system consists of an autothermal steam reformer that provides hydrogen to a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. A purification stage (preferential oxidation reactor) intercedes between the steam reformer and the fuel cell and maintains CO levels below 10–50 ppm, while a heat-exchanging network (comprising of two coolers and a burner) is employed towards managing a well-balanced autothermal operation. The proposed dynamic model is developed on the basis of describing accurately the evolving chemical and electrochemical interactions between the subsystems and utilizes a group of partial/ordinary differential equation (reactors and heat exchangers) along with a set of non-linear equations (reaction kinetics and current-voltage dependence). Based on the system main operating features, a control structure through the implementation of PI controllers is proposed for the control of (a) the reformer feed and exit temperature through methanol burning and steam reformer feed flowrate manipulation respectively, (b) CO concentration through O₂/CO feed ratio manipulation, (c) power production (specified by the fuel cell operation current) through methanol reformer feed and (d) subsystem exit temperatures through coolant flowrate manipulation. An overall simulation case study reveals the proper selection of system manipulated and controlled variables towards achieving the applied operating set-points, where it is shown that the system sustains a flexible operation, along with fast start-up and dynamic transients.

在本研究中，建立了严格的动态和面向控制的模型，以准确描述甲醇重整燃料电池动力系统（最高5 kW _el）的自主运行。该系统由自动热蒸汽重整器组成，该重整器向聚合物电解质膜（PEM）提供氢气） 燃料电池。净化阶段（优先氧化反应器）介于蒸汽重整器和燃料电池之间，并使CO含量保持在10–50 ppm以下，同时采用热交换网络（由两个冷却器和一个燃烧器组成）来管理平衡良好的设备。自热运行。所提出的动力学模型是在准确描述子系统之间不断发展的化学和电化学相互作用的基础上开发的，并利用了一组偏/常规微分方程（反应器和热交换器）以及一组非线性方程（反应动力学和反应动力学）。电流-电压依赖性）。根据系统的主要操作功能，₂ / CO进料比控制，（c）通过甲醇重整器进料的发电量（由燃料电池工作电流指定），以及（d）通过冷却剂流量控制的子系统出口温度。整体仿真案例研究揭示了为实现所应用的操作设定点而对系统操纵和控制变量的正确选择，其中表明系统维持了灵活的操作，并具有快速启动和动态瞬变的作用。