Efficient fuel utilization by enhancing the under-rib mass transport using new serpentine flow field designs of direct methanol fuel cells

The design of the anode flow field is critical for yielding better performance of micro direct methanol fuel cells (µDMFCs). In this work, the effect of different flow fields on cell performance was investigated by the simulation method. Compared with grid, parallel and double-serpentine flow fields, a single-serpentine flow field can better improve the mass transfer efficiency of methanol and the emission efficiency of the carbon dioxide by-product. The opening ratio and channel length also have important effects on the cell performance. The cells were manufactured using silicon-based micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technologies and tested to verify the simulation results. The experimental results show that the single-serpentine flow field represents a higher peak power density (16.83 mWcm−2) than other flow fields. Moreover, the results show that an open ratio of 47.3% and a channel length of 63.5 mm are the optimal parameters for the single-serpentine flow field.

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Innovative Flow-Field Combination Design on Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Performance

Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology ◽

10.1115/1.2744056 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 365-368 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Guo-Bin Jung ◽

Ay Su ◽

Cheng-Hsin Tu ◽

Fang-Bor Weng ◽

Shih-Hung Chan

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cells ◽

Flow Field ◽

Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽

Flow Fields ◽

Cell Performance ◽

Fuel Cell Performance ◽

Serpentine Flow Field ◽

Structure Of Flow ◽

Direct Methanol ◽

Stable Performance

The flow-field design of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) is an important subject about DMFC performance. Flow fields play an important role in the ability to transport fuel and drive out the products (H2O,CO2). In general, most fuel cells utilize the same structure of flow field for both anode and cathode. The popular flow fields used for DMFCs are parallel and grid designs. Nevertheless, the characteristics of reactants and products are entirely different in anode and cathode of DMFCs. Therefore, the influences of flow fields design on cell performance were investigated based on the same logic with respect to the catalyst used for cathode and anode nonsymmetrically. To get a better and more stable performance of DMFCs, three flow fields (parallel, grid, and serpentine) utilized with different combinations were studied in this research. As a consequence, by using parallel flow field in the anode side and serpentine flow-field in the cathode, the highest power output was obtained.

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Two-phase, mass-transport model for direct methanol fuel cells with effect of non-equilibrium evaporation and condensation

Journal of Power Sources ◽

10.1016/j.jpowsour.2007.08.075 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 174 (1) ◽

pp. 136-147 ◽

Cited By ~ 57

Author(s):

W.W. Yang ◽

T.S. Zhao

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cells ◽

Mass Transport ◽

Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽

Transport Model ◽

Two Phase ◽

Evaporation And Condensation ◽

Equilibrium Evaporation ◽

Direct Methanol ◽

Mass Transport Model ◽

Methanol Fuel Cells

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Innovative Flow Field Combination Design on Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Performance

3rd International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology ◽

10.1115/fuelcell2005-74010 ◽

2005 ◽

Author(s):

Guo-Bin Jung ◽

Ay Su ◽

Cheng-Hsin Tu ◽

Fang-Bor Weng ◽

Shih-Hung Chan

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cells ◽

Flow Field ◽

Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽

Flow Fields ◽

Cell Performance ◽

Fuel Cell Performance ◽

Serpentine Flow Field ◽

Structure Of Flow ◽

Direct Methanol ◽

Stable Performance

The flow-field design of Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFCs) is an important subject about the DMFCs performance. Flow-fields play an important role on ability to transport fuel and drive out the products (H2O, CO2). In general, most of fuel cells utilize the same structure of flow-field for both anode and cathode. The popular flow-fields used for DMFCs are parallel and grid designs. Nevertheless, the characteristics of reactants and products are entirely different in anode and cathode of DMFCs. Therefore; the influences of the flow-fields designs on the cell performance were investigated due to the same logic for catalyst used for cathode and anode differently. To get the better and more stable performance of DMFC, three flow-fields (Parallel, Grid and Serpentine) are utilized with different combination were studied in this research. As a consequence, by using parallel flow-field in anode side and serpentine flow -field in cathode, the most and highest power output was obtained.

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