Investigation of the Operating Conditions on the Water and Thermal Management for a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell by One-Dimensional Model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuhui Wang ◽  
Yaqian Dong ◽  
Sichuan Xu
Technologies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Victor A. Kovtunenko ◽  
Larisa Karpenko-Jereb

The durability of a platinum catalyst in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell is studied at various operating conditions with respect to the different electric potential difference (called voltage) applied in accelerated stress tests. The electrochemical reactions of Pt ion dissolution and Pt oxide coverage of the catalyst lead to the degradation of platinum described by a one-dimensional Holby–Morgan model. The theoretical study of the underlying reaction–diffusion system with the nonlinear reactions is presented by numerical simulations which allow to predict a lifetime of the catalyst under applied voltage cycling. The computer simulation investigates how the Pt mass loss depends on the voltage slope and the upper potential level in cycles.


Author(s):  
Vinaykumar Konduru ◽  
Ezequiel Medici ◽  
Jeffrey S. Allen

Understanding the water transport in the Porous Transport Layer (PTL) is important to improve the operational performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). High water content in the PTL and flow channel decreases the transport of the gas reactants to the polymer electrolyte membrane. Dry operating conditions result in increased ohmic resistance of the polymer electrolyte membrane. Both cases result in decreased fuel cell performance. Multi-phase flow in the PTL of the fuel cell is simulated as a network of pores surrounded by the solid material. The pore-phase and the solid-phase of the PTL are generated by varying the parameters of the Weibull distribution function. In the network model, the mass transfer takes place in the pore-phase and the bulk heat transfer takes place in the both the solid-phase and liquid phase of the PTL. Previous studies have looked at the thermal and mass transport in the porous media considering the pore size distribution. In the present study, the sensitivity of the thermal and mass transport to the different arrangements of the solid-phase is carried out and the effect of different solid-phase distributions on the thermal and liquid transport in PTL of PEM fuel cell are discussed.


Author(s):  
Sang Hern Seo ◽  
Chang Sik Lee

Water management is very important for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell because the fuel cell performance is decreased by flooding phenomena generated by liquid water in the cathode channels. In addition, the proton conductivity and water transport of membrane could become different by hydration contents of membrane. This study is observed water transport phenomena of cathode channels with a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell according to various operating conditions. In order to obtain the water images, the transparent fuel cell consists of polycarbonate window of the cathode end plate and gold coated stainless steel as the flow field and current collector of the cathode. To investigate the effects of operating conditions on the water transport, experiments were conducted under various operating conditions such as cell temperature, cathode flow rate and cathode backpressure. As operating time elapsed, it is observed that the water droplet formation, growth, coalescence and removal occurred in the cathode channel. It can be known that the high cathode flow rate prevents water flooding by removal of water in the cathode flow channel. Also, the quantity of water droplet was increased by the high cathode backpressure.


Author(s):  
A. Jamekhorshid ◽  
G. Karimi ◽  
X. Li

Non-uniform current distribution in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells results in local over-heating, accelerated ageing, and lower power output than expected. This issue is very critical when fuel cell experiences water flooding. In this work, the performance of a PEM fuel cell is investigated under cathode flooding conditions. A partially flooded GDL model is proposed to study local current density distributions along flow fields over a wide range of cell operating conditions. The model results show as cathode inlet humidity and/or cell pressure increase the average current density for the unflooded portions of the cell increases but the system becomes more sensitive to flooding. Operating the cell at higher temperatures would lead to higher average current densities and the chance of system being flooded is reduced. In addition, higher cathode stoichiometries prevent system flooding but the average current density remains almost constant.


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