Effects of flow field and diffusion layer properties on water accumulation in a PEM fuel cell

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (17) ◽  
pp. 4489-4502 ◽  
Author(s):  
J OWEJAN ◽  
T TRABOLD ◽  
D JACOBSON ◽  
M ARIF ◽  
S KANDLIKAR
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Diffusion Layer ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Water Accumulation ◽  
And Diffusion

Effects of Flow Field and Diffusion Layer Properties on Water Accumulation in a PEM Fuel Cell

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Owejan ◽  
T. A. Trabold ◽  
D. L. Jacobson ◽  
M. Arif ◽  
S. G. Kandlikar
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Cell Performance ◽  
Water Volume ◽  
Fuel Cell Performance ◽  
Diffusion Media ◽  
And Diffusion

Water is the main product of the electrochemical reaction in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Where the water is produced over the active area of the cell, and how it accumulates within the flow fields and gas diffusion layers, strongly affects the performance of the device and influences operational considerations such as freeze and durability. In this work, the neutron radiography method was used to obtain two-dimensional distributions of liquid water in operating 50 cm2 fuel cells. Variations were made of flow field channel and diffusion media properties, to assess the effects on the overall volume and spatial distribution of accumulated water. Flow field channels with hydrophobic coating retain more water, but the distribution of a greater number of smaller slugs in the channel area improves fuel cell performance at high current density. Channels with triangular geometry retain less water than rectangular channels of the same cross-sectional area, and the water is mostly trapped in the two corners adjacent to the diffusion media. Also, it was found that cells constructed using diffusion media with lower in-plane gas permeability tended to retain less water. In some cases, large differences in fuel cell performance were observed with very small changes in accumulated water volume, suggesting that flooding within the electrode layer or at the electrode-diffusion media interface is the primary cause of the significant mass transport voltage loss.

Three-dimensional multi-phase simulation of PEM fuel cell considering the full morphology of metal foam flow field

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 2978-2989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guobin Zhang ◽  
Zhiming Bao ◽  
Biao Xie ◽  
Yun Wang ◽  
Kui Jiao
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Foam Flow ◽  
Multi Phase

An inverse geometry design problem for optimization of single serpentine flow field of PEM fuel cell

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 4247-4257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Dong Wang ◽  
Yu-Xian Huang ◽  
Chin-Hsiang Cheng ◽  
Jiin-Yuh Jang ◽  
Duu-Jong Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Geometry Design ◽  
Serpentine Flow Field ◽  
Inverse Geometry
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