Fuel temperature in the Simscape fuel cell model

I am trying to use the fuel cell model of Simscape.

https://jp.mathworks.com/help/sps/ref/fuelcell.html

I want to calculate the mass flow rate of the fuel, however the temperature of the fuel is not known.

What is the definition of fuel temperature? Is it the "nominal temperature" of the model parameter?

Or dose the model use the standard reference conditions of the gas?

[Joel Van Sickel]

How are you trying to calculate fuel flow rate? It can be specificied without knowing it's temperature. The fuel cell itself internally calculates it's temperature. You have to connect it to a thermal model, but you don't need to know the specific temperature as the model takes care of that for you. Have you seen this example:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/sps/ug/fuel-cell.html

[Satomi]

Thank you so much, Joel.

In this model we give the volumetric flow rate (l/min), but I would like to know the mass flow rate (kg/s) of the fuel.

To convert, I need to know the density, and to know the density I need the temperature and pressure. I would like to know which temperature should be used to calculate the density.

I understand that the model calculations are done automatically, but I would like to know the mass flow rate (kg/s) to get an accurate estimate of fuel consumption.

Answer 1

[Joel Van Sickel]

sorry, I should have answered this sooner. You can add sensors to measure different values, and you can use the probe block to read internal states of the fuel cell (use 23a to get access to all states). https://www.mathworks.com/help/simscape/ref/probe.html

For this type of model, you are providing the pressure and flow rate. This is a very simplistic model so you basically only have a single temperature of the fuel cell, which you could use as the temperate of your fuel.