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This review presents methanol as a potential renewable alternative to fossil fuels in the fight against climate change. It explores the renewable ways of obtaining methanol and its use in efficient energy systems for a net zero-emission carbon cycle, with a special focus on fuel cells. It investigates the different parts of the carbon cycle from a methanol and fuel cell perspective. In recent years, the potential for a methanol economy has been shown and there has been significant technological advancement of its renewable production and utilization. Even though its full adoption will require further development, it can be produced from renewable electricity and biomass or CO2 capture and can be used in several industrial sectors, which make it an excellent liquid electrofuel for the transition to a sustainable economy. By converting CO2 into liquid fuels, the harmful effects of CO2 emissions from existing industries that still rely on fossil fuels are reduced. The methanol can then be used both in the energy sector and the chemical industry, and become an all-around substitute for petroleum. The scope of this review is to put together the different aspects of methanol as an energy carrier of the future, with particular focus on its renewable production and its use in high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) via methanol steam reforming.

The prevailing standards and scientific literature offer a wide range of options for the construction of a battery thermal management system (BTMS). The design of an innovative yet well-functioning BTMS requires strict supervision, quality audit and continuous improvement of the whole process. It must address all the current quality and safety (Q&S) standards. In this review article, an effective battery thermal management is sought considering the existing battery Q&S standards and scientific literature. The article contains a broad overview of the current existing standards and literature on a generic compliant BTMS. The aim is to assist in the design of a novel compatible BTMS. Additionally, the article delivers a set of recommendations to make an effective BTMS.

In this paper, the main faults in a commercial proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack for micro-combined heat and power ( μ -CHP) application are investigated, with the scope of experimentally identifying fault indicators for diagnosis purposes. The tested faults were reactant starvation (both fuel and oxidant), flooding, drying, CO poisoning, and H2S poisoning. Galvanostatic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were recorded between 2 kHz and 0.1 Hz on a commercial stack of 46 cells of a 100- cm 2 active area each. The results, obtained through distribution of relaxation time (DRT) analysis of the EIS data, show that characteristic peaks of the DRT and their changes with the different fault intensity levels can be used to extract the features of the tested faults. It was shown that flooding and drying present features on the opposite ends of the frequency spectrum due the effect of drying on the membrane conductivity and the blocking effect of flooding that constricts the reactants’ flow. Moreover, it was seen that while the effect of CO poisoning is limited to high frequency processes, above 100 Hz, the effects of H2S extend to below 10 Hz. Finally, the performance degradation due to all the tested faults, including H2S poisoning, is recoverable to a great extent, implying that condition correction after fault detection can contribute to prolonged lifetime of the fuel cell.

State of charge (SOC) is one of the most important parameters in battery management systems, as it indicates the available battery capacity at every moment. There are numerous battery model-based methods used for SOC estimation, the accuracy of which depends on the accuracy of the model considered to describe the battery dynamics. The SOC estimation method proposed in this paper is based on an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and nonlinear battery model which was parameterized using extended laboratory tests performed on several 13 Ah lithium titanate oxide (LTO)-based lithium-ion batteries. The developed SOC estimation algorithm was successfully verified for a step discharge profile at five different temperatures and considering various initial SOC initialization values, showing a maximum SOC estimation error of 1.16% and a maximum voltage estimation error of 44 mV. Furthermore, by carrying out a sensitivity analysis it was showed that the SOC and voltage estimation error are only slightly dependent on the variation of the battery model parameters with the SOC.

A precise interpretation of lithium-ion battery (LIB) heat generation is indispensable to the advancement and accomplishment of thermal management systems for different applications of LIB, including electric vehicles. The internal resistance of a lithium titanate oxide (LTO)-based LIB was determined at different state of charge (SOC) levels and current rates to understand the relationship between internal resistance and heat generation. Random and different pulse discharge current step durations were applied to consider the effect of different SOC interval levels on heat generation. The total generated heat was measured for different discharge rates and operating temperatures in a Netzsch IBC 284 calorimeter. It was seen that a 6.7% SOC decrease at high SOC levels corresponds to 0.377 Wh, 0.728 Wh, and 1.002 Wh heat generation for 26A, 52A, and 78A step discharge, both at 20 °C and 30 °C. However, a 1.85% SOC decrease at medium SOC levels corresponds already to 0.57 Wh, 0.76 Wh, and 0.62 Wh heat generation. It can be inferred that the impact of SOC level on heat generation for this cell is more prominent at a lower than at a higher SOC.

This investigation’s primary purpose was to illustrate the cooling mechanism within a lithium titanate oxide lithium-ion battery pack through the experimental measurement of heat generation inside lithium titanate oxide batteries. Dielectric water/glycol (50/50), air and dielectric mineral oil were selected for the lithium titanate oxide battery pack’s cooling purpose. Different flow configurations were considered to study their thermal effects. Within the lithium-ion battery cells in the lithium titanate oxide battery pack, a time-dependent amount of heat generation, which operated as a volumetric heat source, was employed. It was assumed that the lithium-ion batteries within the battery pack had identical initial temperature conditions in all of the simulations. The lithium-ion battery pack was simulated by ANSYS to determine the temperature gradient of the cooling system and lithium-ion batteries. Simulation outcomes demonstrated that the lithium-ion battery pack’s temperature distributions could be remarkably influenced by the flow arrangement and fluid coolant type.

To facilitate the co-design and co-optimization of fluid or combustion systems and thermoelectric devices, a three-dimensional (3D) thermoelectric generator (TEG) model has been proposed and implemented in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation environment. The model includes all temperature-dependent characteristics of the materials and nonlinear fluid–thermal– electric multiphysics coupled effects. In this paper, the device-level model is first extended to the module level by taking a general geometry, identifying regions such as positive and negative thermoelements, and assigning properties to them. The system-level model is then demonstrated by coupling the module-level model with a fluidic–thermal system model in a single CFD simulator to predict the generation performance based on the thermal equilibrium that is achieved. The linked models are validated experimentally at the system level using data from three real thermoelectric modules installed on the surface of an exhaust pipe-like rig, where the temperature profile as well as the electricity generated can be measured and compared with the simulation results. The rig is intended not only to verify the proposed system model but also to mimic a practical exhaust recovery apparatus for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Based on the data obtained from the system-level test rig, a novel low-temperature low-cost application for auxiliary electric power appliances based on the waste heat of the PEMFC can be envisaged. Within the common simulator, it is shown that the thermoelectric model can be connected to various continuum-domain CFD models of the fuel cell itself, thus enabling further possibilities to optimize system efficiency and performance.

A precise lithium-ion battery model is required to specify their appropriateness for different applications and to study their dynamic behavior. In addition, it is important to design an efficient battery system for power applications. In this investigation, a second-order equivalent electrical circuit battery model, which is the most conventional method of characterizing the behavior of a lithium-ion battery, was developed. The current pulse procedure was employed for parameterization of the model. The construction of the model was described in detail, and a battery model for a 13 Ah lithium titanate oxide battery cell was demonstrated. Comprehensive characterization experiments were accomplished for an extensive range of operating situations. The outcomes were employed to parameterize the suggested dynamic model of the lithium titanate oxide battery cell. The simulation outcomes were compared to the laboratory measurements. In addition, the proposed lithium-ion battery model was validated. The recommended model was assessed, and the proposed model was able to anticipate precisely the current and voltage performance.

A fundamental thermodynamic analysis of an air-cooled fuel cell, where the reactant air stream is also the coolant stream, is presented. The adiabatic cell temperature of such a fuel cell is calculated in a similar way as the adiabatic flame temperature in a combustion process. Diagrams that show the dependency of the cathode outlet temperature, the stoichiometric flow ratio and the operating cell voltage are developed. These diagrams can help fuel cell manufacturers to identify a suitable blower and a suitable operating regime for their fuel cell stacks. It is found that for standard conditions, reasonable cell temperatures are obtained for cathode stoichiometric flow ratios of ξ = 50 and higher, which is in very good agreement with manufacturer’s recommendations. Under very cold ambient conditions, the suggested stoichiometric flow ratio is only in the range of ξ = 20 in order to obtain a useful fuel cell operating temperature. The outside relative humidity only plays a role at ambient temperatures above 40 °C, and the predicted stoichiometric flow ratios should be above ξ = 70 in this region. From a thermodynamic perspective, it is suggested that the adiabatic outlet temperature is a suitable definition of the fuel cell operating temperature.

In this paper, a simplified model of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) water electrolysis cell is presented and compared with experimental data at 60 °C and 80 °C. The model utilizes the same modelling approach used in previous work where the electrolyzer cell is divided in four subsections: cathode, anode, membrane and voltage. The model of the electrodes includes key electrochemical reactions and gas transport mechanism (i.e., H2, O2 and H2O) whereas the model of the membrane includes physical mechanisms such as water diffusion, electro osmotic drag and hydraulic pressure. Voltage was modelled including main overpotentials (i.e., activation, ohmic, concentration). First and second law efficiencies were defined. Key empirical parameters depending on temperature were identified in the activation and ohmic overpotentials. The electrodes reference exchange current densities and change transfer coefficients were related to activation overpotentials whereas hydrogen ion diffusion to Ohmic overvoltages. These model parameters were empirically fitted so that polarization curve obtained by the model predicted well the voltage at different current found by the experimental results. Finally, from the efficiency calculation, it was shown that at low current densities the electrolyzer cell absorbs heat from the surroundings. The model is not able to describe the transients involved during the cell electrochemical reactions, however these processes are assumed relatively fast. For this reason, the model can be implemented in system dynamic modelling for hydrogen production and storage where components dynamic is generally slower compared to the cell electrochemical reactions dynamics.