Research of Special-Shaped Membrane Electrode Assembly for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

2011 ◽  
Vol 464 ◽  
pp. 409-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Xing Wang ◽  
Hong Jun Ni ◽  
Yu Zhu ◽  
Ming Yu Huang ◽  
Ping Liao

In order to reduce the costs, improve the performances and promote the industry process, basing on calculus and finite element thinking, conceptual design of special-shaped membrane electrode assembly (S-MEA) was proposed, including six shapes. S-MEA size was determined by calculating, admeasuring and devising elaborately, whose basic parameter was gained from experiment datum. S-MEA was made up of titanium mesh anode layer, anode catalyst layer, Nafion membrane layer, cathode catalyst layer, gas diffusion layer and titanium mesh cathode layer in turn, which was different from MEA of the fluid field bipolar plates in the macro-structure but had the same micro-mechanism. Three-dimensional model was devised through Pro/E, planar diagrammatic drawing was created by the software also, and detail drawing was designed further with CAD. The process of preparing S-MEA was researched basing on the design. Then three typical S-MEA prototypes were made by bend-hot-pressing with home-made molds and precision hydraulic machine, including open triangular cross-section MEA, circular cross-section MEA and square cross-section MEA.

Author(s):  
Morio Tomizawa ◽  
Keisuke Nagato ◽  
Kohei Nagai ◽  
Akihisa Tanaka ◽  
Marcel Heinzmann ◽  
...  

Abstract Micropatterns applied to proton exchange membranes can improve the performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cells; however, the mechanism underlying this improvement is yet to be clarified. In this study, a patterned membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was compared with a flat one using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and distribution of relaxation time analysis. The micropattern positively affects the oxygen reduction reaction by increasing the reaction area. However, simultaneously, the pattern negatively affects the gas diffusion because it lengthens the average oxygen transport path through the catalyst layer. In addition, the patterned MEA is more vulnerable to flooding, but performs better than the flat MEA in low-humidity conditions. Therefore, the composition, geometry, and operating conditions of the micropatterned MEA should be comprehensively optimized to achieve optimal performance.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshihiro Tanuma

Proper water management is required for the operation of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), in order to maintain the critical balance between adequate membrane hydration and prevention of water flooding in the catalyst layer. In PEFCs, the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is sandwiched between two gas diffusion layers (GDLs). In addition, a microporous layer (MPL) is generally applied to the GDL substrates for better water removal from the cathode catalyst layer. This paper is the first to report on an ex situ characterization method for water flooding in GDLs. As the humidity of O2 gas on the substrate side of the GDL was increased in incremental steps, O2 gas began to diffuse into the MPL side of the GDL. When the O2 relative humidity exceeded the dew point, water flooding was observed on the surface of the MPL and the O2 concentration dropped sharply because the O2 diffusion was suppressed by the produced liquid water. When comparing to the estimated mass transfer loss based on the actual polarization curves of an MEA using the GDL, it was found that the decrease in the O2 concentration on the MPL side of the GDL can be used as an index of water flooding in the PEFC.


2009 ◽  
Vol 60-61 ◽  
pp. 339-342
Author(s):  
Chun Guang Suo ◽  
Xiao Wei Liu ◽  
Xi Lian Wang

Membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is the key component of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), the structure and its preparation methods may bring great effects on the cell performances. Due to the requirement of the high performance of the MEA for the micro direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), we provide a novel double-catalyst layer MEA using CCM-GDE (Catalyst Coated Membrane,CCM;Gas Diffusion Electrode,GDE) fabrication method. The double-catalyst layer is formed with an inner catalyst layer (in anode side: PtRu black as catalyst, in cathode side: Pt black as catalyst) and an outer catalyst layer (in anode side: PtRu/C as catalyst, in cathode side: Pt/C as catalyst). The fabrication procedures are important to the new structured MEA, thus three kinds of fabrication methods are studied, including CCM-GDE, GDE-Membrane and CCM-GDL methods. It was found that the CCM-GDE technology may enhance the contact properties between the catalyst and PEM, and increase the electrode reaction areas, resulted in increasing the performance of the DMFC.


Author(s):  
Sinan Filiz ◽  
O. Burak Ozdoganlar

Part I of this work presents a combined one-dimensional/three-dimensional approach for obtaining a unified model for the dynamics of micro- and macro-drills. To increase the numerical efficiency of the model, portions of the drill with circular cross-section (shank, extension, and tapered sections) are modeled using one-dimensional beam models without compromising model accuracy. A three-dimensional model is used for an accurate representation of the fluted section, considering the actual geometry with the pretwisted shape and axially varying (nonaxisymmetric) cross-section. The actual cross-section of the drills is incorporated to the model through a polynomial mapping while the pretwist effect is captured by defining a rotating reference frame. The boundary-value problem for both one- and three-dimensional models are derived using a variational approach, based on the extended Hamilton’s principle, and are subsequently solved by applying the spectral-Tchebychev technique. A component-mode synthesis is used for connecting the individual sections to obtain the dynamic model for the entire drill. Convergence of the model is studied by varying the number of polynomials for each section. The experimental validation of the model is included in Part II for both macro- and micro-drills. Also included in Part II is an analysis of drill dynamics for varying drill-geometry parameters and axial (thrust) force.


Author(s):  
Chi-Hui Chien ◽  
Shih-Chun Li ◽  
Wei-Tsung Hsu ◽  
Chih-Wei Lin

The design and method of cell assembly play important roles in assessing the performance of PEM fuel cell. The cell assembly will affect the contact behavior between the bipolar plates, flow-channel plates, gas diffusion layers (GDLs) and membrane electrode assembly (MEA). From the past studies, it is noted that the flow-channel plates in the cell will be deformed while the cell was assembled by locking with bolts. This phenomenon may lead to leakage of fuels, high contact resistance and malfunctioning of the cells. The main aim of this research is to study the variation of the deformation mode of the flow-channel plat in a micro-PEM fuel cell assembly subjected to different bolts locking sequences. The commercial FEM package, ANSYS, was adopted to model the three-dimensional single micro-PEMFC FEM model and the numerical simulation analyses were performed. The effect of the bolts locking sequence on the deformations of flow-channel plate in the micro-PEMFC was presented.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Yongping Hou ◽  
Leiqi Wang ◽  
Jianwen Zhang ◽  
Dong Hao

A simplified finite element model for large polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack consisting of ten cells is established in order to investigate the internal structure deformation. It is found that the interface slippage occurs when the bipolar plate (BP) and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) are subjected to vertical impact acceleration. Based on this three-dimensional model, the influence of the friction coefficient between BP and MEA on the relative slippage can be analyzed efficiently. The division layer of relative slippage is found and its vibration rule is discussed. It is observed that increasing the magnitude of impact vibration has most significant effect on the movement of the division layer, and the two variables are linearly related when impact acceleration is greater than 5 g. This work provides important insight into the choice of the friction coefficient.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Qinwen Yang ◽  
Shujun Chen ◽  
Gang Xiao ◽  
Lexi Li

A collaborative design for the uneven distributions of a flow channel, gas diffusion layer porosity and catalyst layer porosity are newly proposed to improve the utilization ratio of the membrane electrode assembly of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell. The effects of the uneven design of the rib width and of the uneven porosity parameters of the cathode and anode gas diffusion layer and catalyst layer on the fuel cell performance were studied in detail. Numerical simulations were designed and implemented for validation. The results show that the fuel cell performance could be improved through the collaborative design of uneven distributions for different layers. The rib width gradually decreasing and the porosity of the cathode gas diffusion layer and the cathode catalyst layer gradually increasing along the fluid flow direction would contribute to a better design compared to the regular even design. The new uneven design can make the fuel penetrate into the catalyst layer in time to participate in the reaction, improve the utilization rate of the membrane electrode assembly, and greatly improve the performance of the fuel cell.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Prof. Dr. Jamal Aziz Mehdi

The biological objectives of root canal treatment have not changed over the recentdecades, but the methods to attain these goals have been greatly modified. Theintroduction of NiTi rotary files represents a major leap in the development ofendodontic instruments, with a wide variety of sophisticated instruments presentlyavailable (1, 2).Whatever their modification or improvement, all of these instruments have onething in common: they consist of a metal core with some type of rotating blade thatmachines the canal with a circular motion using flutes to carry the dentin chips anddebris coronally. Consequently, all rotary NiTi files will machine the root canal to acylindrical bore with a circular cross-section if the clinician applies them in a strictboring manner


1993 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 498-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Tan ◽  
J. A. Witz

This paper discusses the large-displacement flexural-torsional behavior of a straight elastic beam with uniform circular cross-section subject to arbitrary terminal bending and twisting moments. The beam is assumed to be free from any kinematic constraints at both ends. The equilibrium equation is solved analytically with the full expression for curvature to obtain the deformed configuration in a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. The results show the influence of the terminal moments on the beam’s deflected configuration.


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