The mass transfer characteristics and energy improvement with various partially blocked flow channels in a PEM fuel cell

Interest in PEM fuel cells has grown rapidly in recent years because of its possible applications. The performance of PEM fuel cells is strongly affected by various physical factors, such as the flow of reactant gas, thermal management and water management. The performance and characteristics of a PEM fuel cell have been analysed through the development of a 3D model and numerical simulation. The result obtained from the computational model shows details of species movement, charge Transport and mass transfer phenomena. This paper also investigates the influence of input parameters on the output of the PEM fuel cell model. The result from the analytical study is compared with experimental results to check the accuracy of the model.

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The Effects of Mass Transfer Parameters on the Modeling of A PEM Fuel Cell

2006 IEEE EIC Climate Change Conference ◽

10.1109/eicccc.2006.277198 ◽

2006 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nader Mahinpey ◽

Arulkumar Jagannathan ◽

Raphael Idem

Keyword(s):

Mass Transfer ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Transfer Parameters

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Progress on Reflective Terahertz Imaging for Identification of Water in Flow Channels of PEM Fuel Cells

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.110-116.2301 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 110-116 ◽

pp. 2301-2307

Author(s):

P. Buaphad ◽

P. Thamboon ◽

C. Tengsirivattana ◽

J. Saisut ◽

K. Kusoljariyakul ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Water Distribution ◽

Proton Exchange Membrane ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Pem Fuel Cells ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Thz Radiation ◽

Promising Tool ◽

Flow Channels ◽

Exchange Membrane

This work reports an application of reflective terahertz (THz) imaging for identification of water distribution in the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The THz radiation generated from relativistic femtosecond electron bunches is employed as a high intensity source. The PEM fuel cell is designed specifically for the measurement allowing THz radiation to access the flow field region. The THz image is constructed from reflected radiation revealing absorptive area of water presence. The technique is proved to be a promising tool for studying water management in the PEM fuel cell. Detailed experimental setup and results will be described.

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Flooding Visualization and Enhanced Water Management in PEM Fuel Cell

ASME 2009 7th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels ◽

10.1115/icnmm2009-82129 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Hyung Hee Cho ◽

Sanghoon Lee ◽

Dong-Ho Rhee

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Proton Exchange Membrane ◽

Performance Enhancement ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Key Factors ◽

Flow Channels ◽

Concentration Loss ◽

Exchange Membrane

Internal water management in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell has been considered as one of most significant key factors for its performance enhancement. It is because relative humidity of hydrogen and air is strongly related to the performance of PEM fuel cell in terms of H+ movement within the membrane. In addition, production of H2O by chemical reactions can bring several problems during concentration loss region since combination of vapor in supplying air and byproduct of chemical reaction should lead to excess H2O remaining in PEM fuel cell, resulting flooding phenomena which may block air flow channels. Therefore, in order to understand and manage such phenomena to enhance the performance of PEM fuel cell, especially under concentration loss region, this paper focuses on the visualization of the flooding phenomena and application of the modified flow path on the cathode separator for flooding reduction.

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Numerical simulation of effects of flow maldistribution on heat and mass transfer in a PEM fuel cell stack

Heat and Mass Transfer ◽

10.1007/s00231-006-0191-x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 43 (10) ◽

pp. 1037-1047 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

A. S. Bansode ◽

Siddharth Patel ◽

T. Rajesh Kumar ◽

B. Muralidhar ◽

T. Sundararajan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Numerical Simulation ◽

Mass Transfer ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Heat And Mass Transfer ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Fuel Cell Stack ◽

Flow Maldistribution

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Numerical Study on the Influence of Cathode Flow Channel Baffles on PEM Fuel Cell Performance

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.853.410 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 853 ◽

pp. 410-415 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xiang Shen ◽

Jin Zhu Tan ◽

Yun Li

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Electrochemical Performance ◽

Numerical Study ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Gas Diffusion ◽

Flow Channel ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Cell Performance ◽

Fuel Cell Performance ◽

Flow Channels

A proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is an electrochemical device that directly converts chemical energy of hydrogen into electric energy.The structure of the flow channel is critical to the PEM fuel cell performance. In this paper, the effect of the cathode flow channel baffles on PEM fuel cell performance was investigated numerically. A three-dimensional model was established for the PEM fuel cell which consisted of bipolar plates with three serpentine flow channels, gas diffusion layers, catalyst layers and PEM. Baffles were added in the cathode flow channels to study the effect of the cathode flow channel baffle on the PEM fuel cell performance. And then, numerical simulation for the PEM fuel cell with various cathode channel baffle heights ranging from 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm was conducted.The simulated results show that there existed an optimal cathode flow channel baffle height in terms of the electrochemical performance as all other parameters of the PEM fuel cell were kept constant. It is found that the PEM fuel cell had the good electrochemical performance as the flow channel baffle heights was 0.4mm in this work.

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Multiphysics Modeling of Assembly Pressure Effects on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Performance

Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology ◽

10.1115/1.3081426 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Y. Zhou ◽

G. Lin ◽

A. J. Shih ◽

S. J. Hu

Keyword(s):

Mass Transfer ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Contact Resistance ◽

Electrical Contact ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Cell Performance ◽

Pressure Effects ◽

Electrical Contact Resistance ◽

Fuel Cell Performance

The clamping pressure used in assembling a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack can have significant effects on the overall cell performance. The pressure causes stack deformation, particularly in the gas diffusion layer (GDL), and impacts gas mass transfer and electrical contact resistance. Existing research for analyzing the assembly pressure effects is mostly experimental. This paper develops a sequential approach to study the pressure effects by combining the mechanical and electrochemical phenomena in fuel cells. The model integrates gas mass transfer analysis based on the deformed GDL geometry and modified parameters with the microscale electrical contact resistance analysis. The modeling results reveal that higher assembly pressure increases cell resistance to gas mass transfer, causes an uneven current density distribution, and reduces electrical contact resistance. These combined effects show that as the assembly pressure increases, the PEM fuel cell power output increases first to a maximum and then decreases over a wide range of pressures. An optimum assembly pressure is observed. The model is validated against published experimental data with good agreements. This study provides a basis for determining the assembly pressure required for optimizing PEM fuel cell performance.

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