Modeling of Heat Transfer in Single Cell of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell by Means of Temperature Data Measured by Thermograph

2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 521-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Nishimura ◽  
Kazuhiro Iio ◽  
Masashi Baba ◽  
Taisuke Yamauchi ◽  
Masafumi Hirota ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Temperature Data ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

Numerical Studies of Heat Transport for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Stack in Sub-Freezing Environment

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengtao Sun ◽  
Su Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Numerical Solutions ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Finite Volume Discretization ◽  
Heat Transport Equation ◽  
Heating Up

Two cases of heat transfer processes for a general polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) stack in a sub-freezing environment are studied in this paper: cooling-down and heating-up. We investigate the time consumption problem for both of these two cases in order to find the way to normally restart fuel cell stack without regard to electrochemical reaction. We consider the action of heat transfer in lieu of generated chemical energy to PEFC in sub-freezing environment by means of heat insulator. In the numerical simulation, we define a combined finite element/upwind finite volume discretization to approximate the heat transport equation for different cases of heat transport process, and obtain the stable and reasonable numerical solutions. These results correspondingly provide explicit ways to preserve heat in PEFC stack in the sub-freezing environment.

Influence of Cell Components Structure on Coupling Phenomena in Single Cell of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Nishimura ◽  
Atsushi Morimoto ◽  
Shigeki Tanaka ◽  
Atsushi Oshima ◽  
Masafumi Hirota ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Gas Channel ◽  
Observation Area ◽  
Cell Components

The purpose of this study is to point out the dominant factor of heat and mass distribution in single cell of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). The numerical simulation by simple 3D model of PEFC has been investigated to clarify the influence of cell components structure on heat and mass transfer phenomena in PEFC. In addition, the power generation experiment and the measurement of in-plane temperature distribution by thermograph were carried out. From the simulation results, the gas channel pitch of separator was the key factor to unify in-plane distribution of temperature and gas concentration on the reaction surface. The compression of gas diffusion layer (GDL) by cell binding caused wider distribution of mass concentration in GDL. According to the experimental results, the power generation performance was promoted with the decrease in gas channel pitch irrespective of relative humidity of supply gas. In addition, the temperature range in observation area was lower with the decrease in gas channel pitch.

Cooling Methods for High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Stacks

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen Supra ◽  
Holger Janßen ◽  
Werner Lehnert ◽  
Detlef Stolten
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Heat Pipes ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell ◽  
Future Application ◽  
Cathode Side ◽  
Heat Conducting ◽  
Cooling Methods

One promising future application for a high temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell (HT-PEFC) stack coupled with a reformer is an auxiliary power unit (APU) for mobile applications using diesel or kerosene which is also used for the main engine. Despite of the high efficiency of a HT-PEFC, the stack has to be cooled during operation. Hence, this work focuses on the investigation of different cooling strategies regarding the complete system, the use of heat transfer oil as cooling medium is fixed in this contribution. In detail, three cooling methods to maintain operating temperature in stacks with more than 1 kW electrical power and large active areas (> 200 cm2 per cell) were analyzed. In the first method heat transfer oil flows through the stack in internal channels that are located on the backside of the cathode-side bipolar plate. In the second cooling arrangement the oil flows through capsuled cooling cells, which are arranged between every third electrochemical cell. For the third cooling method the excellent heat conducting properties of heat pipes are used. Outside the stack, the heat is removed by heat transfer oil from the overlapping heat pipes. These three methods were evaluated experimentally and with CFD simulations. In this paper the detailed measurements of the temperature distributions are presented containing the overall result that all cooling methods are applicable to maintain the temperatures of large HT-PEFC stacks during the operation in an APU system.

scholarly journals In-Situ Measurement of In-Plane Temperature Distribution in a Single-Cell Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Using Thermograph

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira NISHIMURA ◽  
Kenichi SHIBUYA ◽  
Atsushi MORIMOTO ◽  
Shigeki TANAKA ◽  
Masafumi HIROTA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
In Situ Measurement ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell ◽  
Plane Temperature
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