Numerical Study on the Influence of Cathode Flow Channel Baffles on PEM Fuel Cell Performance

Abstract:

A proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is an electrochemical device that directly converts chemical energy of hydrogen into electric energy.The structure of the flow channel is critical to the PEM fuel cell performance. In this paper, the effect of the cathode flow channel baffles on PEM fuel cell performance was investigated numerically. A three-dimensional model was established for the PEM fuel cell which consisted of bipolar plates with three serpentine flow channels, gas diffusion layers, catalyst layers and PEM. Baffles were added in the cathode flow channels to study the effect of the cathode flow channel baffle on the PEM fuel cell performance. And then, numerical simulation for the PEM fuel cell with various cathode channel baffle heights ranging from 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm was conducted.The simulated results show that there existed an optimal cathode flow channel baffle height in terms of the electrochemical performance as all other parameters of the PEM fuel cell were kept constant. It is found that the PEM fuel cell had the good electrochemical performance as the flow channel baffle heights was 0.4mm in this work.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 853)
• Pages: 410-415
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.853.410
• Online since: September 2016
• Authors: Xiang Shen, Jin Zhu Tan*, Yun Li
• Keywords: Cathode Flow Channel Baffle, Electrochemical Performance, Numerical Simulation, PEM Fuel Cell

References

[1] S.B. Vladimir. Fuel Cells Problems and Solutions. Beijing: The People's Posts and Telecommunications Press, (2011).

[2] Y.M. Ferng, A. Su. A three-dimensional full-cell CFD model used to investigate the effects of different flow channel designs on PEMFC performance. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy Fuel Cells. 2007, 32(17): 4466-4476.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2007.05.012

[3] A. Iranzo, F. Rosa ,J. Pino. A simulation tool for geometrical analysis and optimization of fuel cell bipolar plates: development, validation and results. Energies, 2009, 2(3): 582-594.

DOI: 10.3390/en20300582

[4] A. D. Le, B. Zhou. A general model of proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Journal of Power Sources, 2008, 182(1): 197-222.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2008.03.047

[5] J. M. Sierra, J. Moreira, P. J. Sebastian. Numerical analysis of the effect of different gas feeding modes in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with serpentine flow-field. Journal of Power Sources. 2011, 196(11): 5070-5076.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2011.01.079

[6] A. Kumar, R. G. Reddy. Effect of channel dimensions and shape in the flow-field distributor on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources. 2003, 113(1): 11-18.

DOI: 10.1016/s0378-7753(02)00475-5

[7] A. P. Manso, F. F. Marzo, M. G. Mujika, et al. Numerical analysis of the influence of the channel cross-section aspect ratio on the performance of a PEM fuel cell with serpentine flow field design. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 2011, 36(11): 6795-6808.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.02.099

[8] Y. Park, P. Chippar, S. Kim, et al. Effects of serpentine flow-field designs with different channel and rib widths on the performance of a direct methanol fuel cell. Journal of Power Sources. 2012, 205(0): 32-47.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2011.12.055

[9] J. Zhou, X. W. Zhang, J. Z. Tan, et al. Effects of operating parameters on performance of PEMFC. Journal of Nanjing University of Technology (Natural Science Edition), 2013, 35(4): 78-81 (in Chinese).