Effect of Flow Filed Designs on PEM Fuel Cell Performance by Numerical Simulation
Two-phase transport of water in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell significantly influences transport of reactants to the porous electrode and the membrane ohmic resistance, thus affects the fuel cell performance. Understanding and control of water transport in the fuel cell are important to improve the cell performance. We present a complete three-dimensional, two-phase transport model of a PEM fuel cell based on the two-fluid model, in which the two-phase flow of multicomponent reactants and the liquid (water) are coupled with species transport, electrochemical reactions, proton and electron transport, electro-osmosis and back diffusion of water. Two liquid water transport equations were developed for various cell units based on different liquid water transport mechanisms in the fuel cell. The model is suitable to investigate effects of flow field design in bipolar plates on the fuel cell performance. The numerical simulation results were used to develop new flow field designs, including the contracted flow field, and blocked flow fields. The simulations show that the improved flow field designs significantly increase the liquid water removal from the gas diffusion layer, which enhances the reactant transport rates and improves the fuel cell performance.
PEM fuel cell water management numerical model flow field design
Xiaodong Wang Jinliang Xu
Beijing Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow and Heat Transfer for Low Grade Energy, North China Electr State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China
国际会议
4th International Symposium on Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation(第四届传热与节能国际研讨会 ISHTEC2012)
广州
英文
1-5
2012-01-06（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）