Transcript A Remote Experiment on Hydrogen Fuel Cell Testing

A remote experiment on hydrogen fuel
cell testing
Biao Han, Xu Yang, Ashraf A. Mousa, Linfeng Zhang
Renewable Energy Research Laboratory
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT,06604
1. Introduction
Client Interface:
In the utilization of sustainable energy, hydrogen is a
promising energy carrier and fuel cells with hydrogen as fuel
can generate electricity with zero emission. Therefore, the
concepts and theories in fuel cells should be instilled among
students. Although tradition lecture is still a main teaching
strategy to transfer knowledge, active learning, e.g.
experiment, is a more effective way to help students better
understand the relevant theories. At present, remote
laboratory is very attractive due to its low cost and easy
access. The students can remotely perform experiment from
anywhere and at any time. This may substantially engage
more students in engineering, inspire their interest, and
boost their creativity.
2. Experimental setup
3. Results and discussion
1. The system works well and we can operate the
system wherever and whenever we want.
By selecting “client”, logged in and the client1 light is lit at
server side. Then the data is displayed on the waveform
chart. By selecting “adminstrator”, it asks for password.
Typing in correct password then we are logged in. The data
is displayed on the waveform chart and we can cut the
power supply by pressing the button.
Labview 8.2 provides the capability of TCP/UDP
communication via specified ports. Our program is running
by a server-client mode. The server program is in charge of
acquiring data from the fuel cell, record it and transfer it to
clients while the client program is responsible of viewing data,
and sending commands to the server if the operator is an
administrator. Once the command is sent to the server, the
server will operate relays and transistors through a Minilab®
1008 to connect or disconnect the DC power supply. There is
an identification method in the server program that can
prevent unauthorized personnel from modifying the system.
Also the server program is capable of handling 20 clients as
visitors and 1 administrator at the same time.
2. Labview provides a webserver which is also capable
of doing remote control. Why we don’t use that?
There are two reasons. First, the webserver implements
remote control by transfering the control panel to the user’s
browser. Therefore it will require a lot of data transfer. This
will become a problem if we are experiencing a poor
internet speed. In our system no more than 20 digits ASCII
code needs to be transferred every refresh time(we set it 1s)
so it won’t need to transfer too much information. Another
reason is that the webserver’s control doesn’t have an
identification capability which will not be safe.
4. Conclusion
One advantage of this system is that we don’t need to wait for
a long long time in the lab during a fuel cell test. We can
simply monitor and control it at home through the internet.
Another advantage is that it makes students learning much
more simple and convenient.
Acknowledgements
The present study was supported by the Department of Energy
through grant no. DEOE0000427.