The rising energy cost and limited supply of fossil fuel make it important for an alternative renewable energy source. Of all the alternatives, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is very promising due to its high efficiency and zero emission characteristics. A fuel cell converts chemical energy to electricity by combining hydrogen with air. However, hydrogen storage poses a lot of practical challenges. Hence, alcohol based steam reforming systems are widely used for on-site hydrogen generation instead. During operation, a fuel reformer needs heating to maintain its temperature. At the same time, the fuel cell stack needs cooling to maintain its temperature. Currently, separate heating and cooling systems are used, resulting in an inefficient thermal management system.

In this study, a more efficient thermal management system is proposed. It incorporates a vapor compression refrigeration (VCR) system to a reformer - PEM fuel cell unit. A VCR system can be seen as a device that transports heat from one place to another with a very high efficiency. In this application, heat is removed from the stack and is transferred to the reformer. This method will save around 38% of energy as compared to the conventional thermal management system.