ABSTRACT
The Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) become popular for an alternative power source in transportation and stationary power systems. This chapter addresses the design of PEMFCs cost model for the optimization, and presents the multiobjective optimization for the PEMFC. For the fuel cell cost model for optimization, the cost of fuel cell stack and balance of plant components for water, thermal, and fuel management have been assessed. In the multiobjective optimization problem, both objective functions have to be minimized simultaneously. Normally, the objectives in such a problem often have the issue of the conflict between the objectives. The MATLAB Optimization Toolbox for a multiobjective optimization problem is used to find the Pareto frontier solution set. The chapter also presents a concept of PEMFCs’ efficiency. Since the efficiency decreases as the power output increases, more cells are to be integrated to achieve a high efficiency for the maximum power output by considering its economic aspect.
