According to the statistics from the U.S. government pollution board, most ozone pollution is caused by motor vehicles. Fuel cell vehicles are one of the best solutions available today to decrease huge amounts of carbon dioxide being released. A fuel cell is a clean and green way of generating electricity from the chemical energy. This research is on the modeling of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell when used in transportation applications.

Depending on the components used, there are different types of fuel cells. This thesis deals with proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) which is the most commonly used fuel cell in different applications including transportation, military and other commercial products. Since the work is based on the application of a PEMFC in transportation, a FCX Clarity fuel cell hybrid vehicle was taken into consideration and a fuel cell prototype was simulated according to the technical specifications of the Honda vehicle.

MICROSIM PSPICE software has been used to simulate a PEMFC to generate the voltage-current (V-I) characteristics of a 100 KW fuel cell stack along with the three kinds of polarization. The diode model was modified in terms of its area and parasitic resistance to accommodate for the activation polarization and ohmic polarizations. The two transistor models were also modified in terms of its area to include large currents. The output of fuel cell will be coupled to a boost converter that regulates the output voltage to the required level. A boost converter however can inject current harmonics into the fuel cell which might otherwise damage the durability of fuel cell. Therefore an interleaved boost converter was investigated to reduce current harmonics.

In this research, it has been deduced that with an interleaved boost converter, the current harmonics on fuel cells can be reduced and the output voltage levels can be increased. Further recommendations of the circuit have also been suggested that could lead to development of an efficient fuel cell vehicle. Overall the research was very fruitful in terms of suggesting a new improvement in the design of a fuel cell vehicle that could help to generate an efficient and economical green vehicle.