Thermal management of fuel-cell stacks using air flow in open-cell metal foam

2022 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 107370
Author(s):  
Nihad Dukhan ◽  
Ali A. Hmad
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Air Flow ◽  
Open Cell

Open Cell Metal Foam as Extended Coolant Surface – Fuel Cell Application

Fuel Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-115
Author(s):  
Y. Vazifeshenas ◽  
K. Sedighi ◽  
M. Shakeri
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Open Cell ◽  
Fuel Cell Application

Numerical model of dehumidifying process of wet air flow in open-cell metal foam

2017 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 309-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haitao Hu ◽  
Zhancheng Lai ◽  
Xiaomin Weng ◽  
Guoliang Ding ◽  
Dawei Zhuang
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Model ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Air Flow ◽  
Open Cell

Fretting wear behaviour of nickel foam struts used in fuel cell applications

2021 ◽  
pp. 135065012110059
Author(s):  
Gangisetty Venkatesh ◽  
Rajappa Gnanamoorthy ◽  
Masakazu Okazaki
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Normal Load ◽  
Nickel Foam ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Fretting Wear ◽  
Wear Behaviour ◽  
Open Cell

In any proton-exchange membrane fuel cell, the bipolar plates grab attention because of the high production cost and heavyweight. Hence, the open-cell nickel foams are considered as an alternative to these grooved plates. The reliability of the metallic foams used as flow distributors and gas diffusion layers plays a vital role in the fuel cell's overall performance. Fretting wear damage of the metal foam at strut/strut interface and strut/supporting frame interface due to the vehicular vibrations and pressurized fuel flow is expected to affect the performance and is investigated. This paper discusses the fretting wear behaviour of nickel foam strut that constitutes open-cell nickel foam based on laboratory tests. The experiments are performed by using two different contact configurations: steel ball on wrought nickel flat and nickel strut on wrought nickel flat. The test results reveal the fretting friction coefficient's dependence on the normal load, surface roughness and contact geometry. Although the nickel strut versus nickel flat fretting wear tests showed a low coefficient of friction, severe damages were observed on the nickel struts’ worn surfaces compared to the wrought nickel flat. Scanning electron microscope images of worn scars on nickel foam struts indicate the presence of shallow grooves, craters, micro-cracks and delamination craters at higher loads.

scholarly journals Cooling Design for PEM Fuel-Cell Stacks Employing Air and Metal Foam: Simulation and Experiment

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2687
Author(s):  
Ali A. Hmad ◽  
Nihad Dukhan
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Air Flow ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Total Output ◽  
Pumping Power ◽  
Maximum Heat ◽  
Simulation And Experiment

A new study investigating the cooling efficacy of air flow inside open-cell metal foam embedded in aluminum models of fuel-cell stacks is described. A model based on a commercial stack was simulated and tested experimentally. This stack has three proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, each having an active area of 100 cm2, with a total output power of 500 W. The state-of-the-art cooling of this stack employs water in serpentine flow channels. The new design of the current investigation replaces these channels with metal foam and replaces the actual fuel cells with aluminum plates. The constant heat flux on these plates is equivalent to the maximum heat dissipation of the stack. Forced air is employed as the coolant. The aluminum foam used had an open-pore size of 0.65 mm and an after-compression porosity of 60%. Local temperatures in the stack and pumping power were calculated for various air-flow velocities in the range of 0.2–1.5 m/s by numerical simulation and were determined by experiments. This range of air speed corresponds to the Reynolds number based on the hydraulic diameter in the range of 87.6–700.4. Internal and external cells of the stack were investigated. In the simulations, and the thermal energy equations were solved invoking the local thermal non-equilibrium model—a more realistic treatment for airflow in a metal foam. Good agreement between the simulation and experiment was obtained for the local temperatures. As for the pumping power predicted by simulation and obtained experimentally, there was an average difference of about 18.3%. This difference has been attributed to the poor correlation used by the CFD package (ANSYS) for pressure drop in a metal foam. This study points to the viability of employing metal foam for cooling of fuel-cell systems.

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