Fabrication of Microchanneled Reformer for Portable Fuel Cell

Author(s):  
S. P. Yu ◽  
S. D. Yim ◽  
S. Um ◽  
W. Y. Lee ◽  
C. S. Kim

Miniature PEFC (Proton Exchange Fuel Cell) needs to be supplied with hydrogen of relatively highly purity to produce electricity. Each microstructured metal (stainless steel and aluminum) foil for the purpose of micro reformer was brazed in vacuum for stacking. Inner surfaces of micro channels were coated with Al2O3 layer to support reforming catalysts by solgel method/sputtering (for stainless steel) and anodizing (for aluminum). Stainless steel foil was good to etch and braze, but oxide layer coating on the surface of foil was too difficult to maintain uniformity to induce stable catalytic reaction. On the other hand, aluminum foil was good to control oxide film on the surface and bonded for stacking at low temperature which can avoid catalyst degradation.

Fuel Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 724-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Li ◽  
P. C. Zhang ◽  
K. Liu ◽  
S. Xu ◽  
Y. T. Han ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Angelo Esposito ◽  
Pierpaolo Polverino ◽  
Cesare Pianese ◽  
Yann G. Guezennec

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell performance significantly depends on electrode water content. Indeed, an excess of liquid water in the pores of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and in the gas flow channel (GFC) can drastically bring down the output power. Depending on the operating conditions, liquid water emerging from the GDL micro-channels can form droplets, films or slugs in the GFC. In the regime of droplets formation, the interaction with the gas crossing-flow leads to an oscillating mechanisms that is fundamental to studying the detachment from the GDL surface, as the authors have shown in a previous publication. In this work, a numerical model of a droplet growing on the GDL surface is developed to describe the interaction between droplet cross-flowing gas stream. The droplet shape and its deformation are reconstructed assuming a known geometry. Therefore, a lumped force balance is enforced to determine the center of mass motion law. Oscillation frequencies during growth and at detachment are found as a function of droplet size. The model is also exploited to find the relationship between droplet critical detachment size and gas velocity. The numerical results are compared with the droplet frequency-size and detachment size-gas velocity experimental results previously presented by the authors. The matching between the numerical and experimental data is very good and is a mean of validation for the model. The low computational burden and the conciseness of the results make the model suitable for applications such as control and optimization strategies development to enhance PEMFC performance. Additionally, the model can be exploited to implement monitoring and diagnostic algorithm.


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