Development of a niobium clad PEM fuel cell bipolar plate material

Nowadays, many economists and scientist worry about sharply increased to fuel consumption. New energy sources have to be investigation now. This was a base on the low-emission gas, high-energy efficiency, permanence and possible with co-generation. Especially, transportation system has been restricted to system’s total weight. Light weight of a transportation system offers to increase performance. By using light weight in a transportation system, it gives another benefit that reduced oil consumption, improved fuel efficiency and increased Market-value. Fuel cell is one of the new energy systems for next generation. Normally, fuel cell consists of bipolar plate, MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly) and GDL (Gas Diffusion Layer). Conventional bipolar plate material was used to graphite. Graphite has been very weak at external shock. Machining process is not easy, and the main problem is that the graphite material supplied by oxidizing and reducing agent composition of the gas leak comes. Thus, the manufacturing cost is increased by this reason. This study will be tried to bipolar plate material replacement from graphite materials to metallic material. In this experiment, STS316 base on austenite stainless steel was used. This experiment was observing an effect of surface conditions with corrosion behavior with Non-coated and CrN coated STS316 on a similar PEMFC operating condition. By the results of experimental, CrN coated condition has better corrosion resistance than that of Non-coated condition due to passivation layer on CrN coated surface.

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The electrical and physical properties of alternative material bipolar plate for PEM fuel cell system

Electrochimica Acta ◽

10.1016/j.electacta.2004.03.061 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 50 (2-3) ◽

pp. 777-780 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

M.H. Oh ◽

Y.S. Yoon ◽

S.G. Park

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Bipolar Plate ◽

Cell System ◽

Fuel Cell System ◽

Alternative Material

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Annealing induced interfacial layers in niobium-clad stainless steel developed as a bipolar plate material for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stacks

Journal of Power Sources ◽

10.1016/j.jpowsour.2009.10.034 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 195 (9) ◽

pp. 2592-2598 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sung-Tae Hong ◽

K. Scott Weil ◽

In-Tae Bae ◽

Jung Pyung Choi ◽

Jwo Pan

Keyword(s):

Stainless Steel ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Polymer Electrolyte ◽

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽

Bipolar Plate ◽

Plate Material ◽

Interfacial Layers ◽

Electrolyte Membrane

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An Analytical Model for Contact Pressure Prediction Considering Dimensional Error of Stamped Bipolar Plate and Gas Diffusion Layer in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Stack Assembly

Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage ◽

10.1115/1.4035099 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Linfa Peng ◽

Diankai Qiu ◽

Peiyun Yi ◽

Xinmin Lai

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Pressure Distribution ◽

Contact Pressure ◽

Proton Exchange Membrane ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Bipolar Plate ◽

Gas Diffusion ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Dimensional Errors ◽

Exchange Membrane

Contact pressure distribution between bipolar plate (BPP) and gas diffusion layer (GDL) has significant impact on performance and life time of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Most current studies for contact pressure prediction are based on finite-element analysis (FEA), requiring huge computation for the whole fuel cell assembly. Comparatively speaking, the more generalized and well-developed analytical methods are deficient in this field. The objective of this study is to propose a full-scale continuous equivalent model to predict GDL contact pressure effectively in the PEM fuel cell. Using the model, the nonuniform pressure distribution resulted from dimensional errors of metallic BPP and GDL could be obtained. First, a parameterized theoretical model of BPP/GDL assembly is established based on equivalent stiffness analysis of components, and definition methods of dimensional errors are proposed according to actual measurements and Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). Then, experiments are carried out to obtain the actual GDL contact pressure and the model results show good agreement with experimental results. At last, effects of dimensional errors are investigated. Acceptable assembly pressure for a given fuel cell is suggested based on the model. This model is helpful to understand the effect of the dimensional errors, and it also could be adopted to guide the manufacturing of BPP, GDL, and the assembling of PEM fuel cell.

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Production of Ni-P Amorphous Alloy-Coated Bipolar Plate for PEM Fuel Cell by Electro-Less Plating

Journal of the Japan Institute of Metals and Materials ◽

10.2320/jinstmet.75.557 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 75 (10) ◽

pp. 557-561

Author(s):

Sung-chul Kim ◽

Shin-ichi Yamaura ◽

Akihiro Makino ◽

Akihisa Inoue

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Amorphous Alloy ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Bipolar Plate

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