Abstract
Hydrogen is the primary fuel in fuel cell systems. Because of high inflammation and explosion possibility of hydrogen, fuel cell systems require safety measures to prevent hydrogen hazard upon leakage. In this study, a model enclosure was made by referring to a commercial residential fuel cell system and hydrogen leakage experiments and computational simulations were conducted therein. Hydrogen was injected into the cavity through leakage holes located at the bottom while its flow rate was precisely controlled using MFC. The transient sensor signals from hydrogen sensors installed inside the enclosure were recorded and analyzed. The hydrogen sensor signals showed different delay times depending on their position relative to a leakage point, which indicated that hydrogen generally moves upward and accumulates at the upper region of a closed cavity. The inflammable regions with hydrogen concentration over 4% LEL were observed to locate near the leakage hole initially, and broaden towards the upper cavity region afterward. The simulation result showed that detection time at the hydrogen sensor was similar to the pattern of experimental results. However, the maximum concentration of hydrogen had a gap between experiment and simulation at detect point due to measurement errors and reaction rate.
