Flow channel design in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell: From 2D to 3D

Flow channel design has attracted more and more attention with the evolution of fuel cell technology. Compared with conventional 2D flow channel, 3D flow channel has been proved to improve the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with great enhancement of reactant transport in many researches. In this paper, flow fields of parallel 2D, simplified 3D and 3D with inclination are presented to study the transport and distribution characteristics of reactant and water inside a fuel cell, and efficiency evaluation criterion is proposed to evaluate the superiority of the flow channel design. It is found that 3D flow fields are superior compared with parallel 2D flow channel, with improved capacity of mass transfer, uniform water distribution and advanced water removal ability. The performance improvements of both 3D flow channel designs become significant at elevated current density, with the output voltage increasing to 4.4% at 1.6 A cm^?2 and up to 10% at 2 A cm^?2. Compared with 3D flow channel with inclination, simplified 3D flow channel shows smaller pressure drop, and it has better performance than that of 2D flow channel. Considering both the performance and flow resistance, simplified 3D flow channel performs the best with high efficiency and easy-processing, thus it is the future direction of flow design.     

Influence of the surface microstructure of the fuel cell gas diffusion layer on the removal of liquid water

The effective removal of water on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface and low flow channel resistance are essential for the water management of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). In this paper, a 3D two-phase volume of fluid (VOF) model is used to compare and analyze the influence of different GDL surface microstructures on the liquid hydrodynamic behavior and optimize the design of the sine wave microstructure. The results show that the surface microstructure of the GDL has a more significant impact on the water removal and flow resistance coefficient in the flow channel, and the sine wave microstructure has substantial advantages. The sine wave peak and period significantly influence the water removal and flow resistance coefficient. As the peak increases, the average relative change rate and the flow resistance coefficient also increase; the influence of the period is opposite to the peak, and the continuous decrease of the period will accelerate the water removal in the flow channel. The sine wave's height and width have little impact on water removal and the flow resistance coefficient. When the sine wave A = 75 μm, T = 1.5, H = 15 μm, and L = 25 μm, good flow channel water removal and low resistance are achieved. This work has particular guiding significance for removing liquid water on the GDL surface and obtaining low flow channel resistance.     

Study on the performance and characteristics of fuel cell coupling cathode channel with cooling channel

Water flooding in the cathode channel of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), which reduce the current density output and affect fuel cell lifetime. Hence, to suppress water flooding, a novel channel is proposed in this study, that is to perforate hole between the cooling channel and cathode channel. A 3D numerical model is used to investigate the influence of the parameters including the hole's dimension, position, numbers, the operation conditions of the PEMFC and the slope angle (θ) of the incline cooling channel. The numerical results indicate that the optimal single hole parameters are 0.4 mm long, 0.5 mm wide and 20 mm position, which can maximum the current density output of the PEMFC. Increasing the hole numbers for novel channels can improve water removal. In addition, in comparison with the conventional channel with θ = 0.20° at 1.8 cathode stoichiometry, the H5 (novel channel with five holes) with θ = 0.20° decreases by 43.10% in the maximum water saturation of cathode channel, while increases by 12.54% in current density output. What's more, all the novel channel structure research hardly raises the pressure drop of channels.     

Performance prediction of PEM fuel cell with wavy serpentine flow channel by using artificial neural network

Effects of serpentine flow channel having sinusoidal wave at the rib surface on performance of PEMFC having 25 cm² active area are investigated at different flow rates, three different amplitudes changing from 0.25 mm to 0.75 mm and three different cell operation temperatures. A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is modeled for the prediction of the output current by using artificial neural network (ANN) that is utilized the aforementioned experimental parameters. Effect of hydrogen and air flow rate, the fuel cell temperature, amplitude of channel is tested. The results indicated that model C1 having lowest amplitude is enhanced maximum power output up to 20.15% as compared to indicated conventional serpentine channel (model C4) for 0.7 SLPM H₂ and 1.5 SLPM air and also model C1 has better performance than C2, C3 and C4 models. The maximum power output is augmented with increasing the cell temperature due to raising the fuel and oxidant diffusion ratio. Cell temperature, amplitude, H₂ and air flow rate and input voltage is used as input variables in train and test of the developing ANN model. MAPE of training and testing is determined as 2.89 and 2.059, respectively. Prediction results of developed ANN model including two hidden layer shows similar trend with experimental results. Developed ANN model can be used to both decrease the number of required experiments and find the optimum operation condition within the range of input parameters.     

3D neutron tomography of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell under sub-zero conditions

In this article, we implement both 2D and 3D based neutron imaging techniques on a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEFC) fuel cell under sub-zero conditions. A cell was run at steady state power, purged for 60 s, and then brought down to −5 °C inside an environmental chamber situated in front of a neutron beam. A series of 2D radiographs were taken as the cell dropped in temperature capturing the condensation and redistribution of flow field and gas diffusion layer (GDL) water. Immediately after this, 3D tomography was conducted while the cell remained at −5 °C. The image data was reconstructed into a 3D model in order to highlight regions where water/ice formations occur. The tomography results show where ice forms within the flow field and which regions are subject to blockages. Ice is observed predominately under channel areas due to water rejection by the GDL. The cathode side channel exit region displays higher ice content which correlates with elevated saturation levels from reaction water production during operation. Larger ice formations reside in the lower region of the flow field due to gravity. These blockages may pose significant issues to cold start of the cell as well as highlight potential drawbacks to shorter purge durations.     

Optimization of block structure parameters of PEMFC novel block channels using artificial neural network

Flow channel design is critically important to the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) due to its great influence on liquid water removal and mass and heat transfer. Block flow channel shows good prospect to improve liquid water removal and mass transport, benefiting the PEMFC performance. In this study, the block structures, namely the length, width and height of the block, are optimized for a novel block channel using data-driven surrogate model based on the artificial neural network (ANN). The training/test datasets are obtained from a three-dimensional multi-phase model based on the volume of fluid (VOF) method, with the water removal time (T) and the maximum channel pressure drop (ΔP) taken as the output and optimization objectives. The results show that the ANN prediction agrees well with the physical model results, with the coefficient of determination (R²) of T and ΔP are 0.99598 and 0.99677, respectively. The block parameters are further optimized using the comprehensive scoring method considering both T and ΔP. The block parameters with the length of 0.8 mm, width of 0.375 mm and height of 0.75 mm are found to be the optimum in terms of the highest score. The optimum parameters obtained from the data-driven surrogate model are verified by the physical model, indicating that the ANN model is an effective and fast method to optimize block structure of block flow channel from the perspective of liquid water removal and channel pressure drop.     

Effect of cathode channel dimensions on the performance of an air-breathing PEM fuel cell

A three dimensional, steady state, non-isothermal, single phase model was developed and simulations were carried out in order to find the effect of cathode channel dimensions (width, depth and height) on the performance of an air-breathing fuel cell. The model was solved using commercial CFD package Fluent (version 6.3). Separate user defined functions were written to solve the electrochemical equations and the water transport through the membrane along with the other governing equations. Analyses were carried out for three different channel widths (2, 4 and 6 mm), for three different channel depths (2, 6 and 10 mm) and for three different cell heights (15, 30 and 45 mm). Cell characteristics like current distribution, species distribution, oxygen mass transfer coefficient, cell temperature, cathode channel velocities and net water transport coefficients are reported. The results show that the cell performance improves with increase in cathode channel width, channel depth and with decrease in cell height. Maximum power density obtained was 240 mW/cm² for a channel width of 4 mm and channel depth of 6 mm. When the channel depth was 2 mm the performance was limited mainly due to the resistance offered by the channel for the buoyancy induced flow. For channel depths higher than 2 mm, the diffusion resistance of the porous GDL also contributed significantly to limit the performance to low current densities. At low current densities the fuel cell is prone to flooding whereas at high current densities ohmic overpotential due to dehydration of the membrane significantly contributes to the overall voltage loss.     

Experimental investigation on scaling and stacking up of proton exchange membrane fuel cells

The performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with various flow channel design (serpentine and interdigitated) with different landing to channel ratios (L:C = 1:1; 2:2) for an active area of 25 cm² and 70 cm², for single cell and two cells stack is studied and compared. The effect of back pressure on the PEMFC performance is also investigated. This study establishes a strong relation between back pressure and power output from a PEMFC. It was concluded that the interdigitated flow channel gives better results than the serpentine flow channel configuration for various landing to channel ratios. It was also found that power outputs do not proportionally increase with active area of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Similarly, stacking up studies with single cell and two cell stack shows that the two cell stack has reduced power densities when compared to that of a single cell. The effect of cooling channels with natural and forced convection by using induced draught fan on the performance of a PEMFC stack is also studied. Fuel distribution and temperature management are found to be the significant factors which determine the performance of a PEMFC stack.     

PEMFC翅脉流道传质及输出性能分析

为研究流道结构对质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFC）反应气体质量传输及输出性能的影响,建立翅脉流道、叶脉流道及蛇形流道的三维PEMFC几何模型,并对比3种流道的反应气体浓度分布、压力分布及电流密度分布,最后对翅脉流道结构参数进行优化。结果表明,与蛇形流道、叶脉流道相比,翅脉流道能明显改善流道和扩散层内反应气体浓度分布的均匀性,有利于强化反应气体向催化层的质量传递;翅脉流道能减小气体压力分布梯度,使反应气体扩散更加充分;翅脉流道的平均膜电流密度更大,有利于促进电化学反应稳定进行;翅脉流道能改善PEMFC的输出性能,翅脉流道峰值功率密度比蛇形流道、叶脉流道分别提高7.72%和6.25%;减小翅脉流道的直流道长度或圆弧流道圆心角,可提升翅脉流道输出性能。     

Effects of channel and rib widths of flow field plates on the performance of a PEMFC

Effects of gas diffusion and electric conduction on the performance of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) were studied in an effort to optimize the channel configurations of flow field plates. The rib and channel widths of flow field plates were varied from 0.5 to 3 mm. The narrower the rib width, the performance of a cell becomes improved in the range investigated. From the results, gas diffusion seems to be a more important factor than electric conduction for the better cell performance.     

Investigating the effects of operational factors on PEMFC performance based on CFD simulations using a three-level full-factorial design

This study uses the 3³ full-factorial design, a factorial arrangement with three factors at three-levels, to investigate the main and interaction effects of design parameters on the performance of a single 25 cm² PEMFC cell. The factors considered in this study include the flow channel design, the operational temperature, and the relative humidity of the cathode gas mixture. The gas flow channel patterns for both the anode side and the cathode side are the same as a straight parallel channel design and two modified parallel channel designs. The operational temperatures are selected as 333 K, 343 K, and 353 K. The relative humidity of the cathode gas mixture varies from 50% to 100% at 25% intervals, while the relative humidity of the anode gas mixture remains fixed at 100%. All runs are conducted with a three-dimensional, non-isothermal steady-state fuel cell computational fluid dynamic model (FCFD) with specified boundary conditions. The FCFD model can not only output the polarization curve, but also predict complex multi-physics flow, thermal, mass and ion transport phenomena inside the tiny fuel cell multi-layer structures. This full-factorial design of experimental method reveals that it is possible to not only explore the main effects of this complex multi-physics problem, but also investigate the effects of two-factor interactions for generating maximum power density. Results show that the flow channel design has the most significant effect on the polarization curve; the next is the cell temperature, while the relative humidity of the cathode gas mixture plays only a minor role.     

An inverse geometry design problem for optimization of single serpentine flow field of PEM fuel cell

The cathode flow-field design of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) determines its reactant transport rates to the catalyst layer and removal rates of liquid water from the cell. This study optimizes the cathode flow field for a single serpentine PEM fuel cell with 5 channels using the heights of channels 2–5 as search parameters. This work describes an optimization approach that integrates the simplified conjugated-gradient scheme and a three-dimensional, two-phase, non-isothermal fuel cell model. The proposed optimal serpentine design, which is composed of three tapered channels (channels 2–4) and a final diverging channel (channel 5), increases cell output power by 11.9% over that of a cell with straight channels. These tapered channels enhance main channel flow and sub-rib convection, both increasing the local oxygen transport rate and, hence, local electrical current density. A diverging, final channel is preferred, conversely, to minimize reactant leakage to the outlet. The proposed combined approach is effective in optimizing the cathode flow-field design for a single serpentine PEMFC. The role of sub-rib convection on cell performance is demonstrated.     

Adoption of novel porous inserts in the flow channel of pem fuel cell for the mitigation of cathodic flooding

Accumulation of excess water in Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is one of the significant technical challenges that needs great attention, since it makes the performance of the fuel cell highly unpredictable and unreliable. To address this formidable task, herein by inserting porous inserts in inline and staggered arrangements on the provisions of landing surface of serpentine flow field, we minimize water clogging in gas diffusion layer. Two types of porous inserts namely porous carbon inserts (PCI), porous sponge inserts (PSI) of sizes 2 mm × 2 mm x 2 mm (2 mm porous inserts) and 4 mm × 2 mm x 2 mm (4 mm porous inserts) are tested for water management of PEMFC, and their respective performances are analyzed. The results showed that power density produced by MSI flow field is 9.5% and 11.57% higher than serpentine flow field for 2 mm and 4 mm PCI respectively while the MSS flow field produced 31.81% and 42.56% higher performance in terms of power density compared with serpentine flow field for 2 mm and 4 mm PCI respectively. The MSS flow field with 4 mm PCI produced 27.77% higher power density compared with 2 mm PCI. Using porous sponge insert instead of porous carbon insert increases the power density by 23.33% for 2 mm porous insert and the power density increases 21.73% for 4 mm PSI in MSS flow field. Increasing the size of PSI from 2 mm to 4 mm increases the power density by 26.12% in MSS flow field.     

基于神经元的PEMFC仿生流道性能模拟研究

质子交换膜燃料电池的流道结构对反应气体的流动和压降等具有重要影响。受神经元结构启发,提出一种兼顾径向流道和仿生流道在压降和气体分布均匀性优点的新型仿生流道结构。通过COMSOL软件模拟研究该新型流道的分支数（2~9）对质子交换膜燃料电池的性能曲线、阴极氧浓度分布、水浓度分布及压降的影响。结果表明：增加流道分支数可提高质子交换膜燃料电池的输出性能,其中9分支流道的峰值功率密度最大,为0.32 W/cm²,相比于2分支流道增加了的146.15%;分支数的增加也会提高氧浓度分布的均匀性,阴极气体扩散层与催化层交界面处的平均氧浓度从0.44 mol/m³提高到1.42 mol/m³,氧气不均匀度从2.13降低至0.90;分支数的增加也明显改善了弧形流道内的水浓度分布。此外,随着流道分支数从2增加到9,流道压降从38.57 Pa递减至4.47 Pa,质子交换膜燃料电池的输出功率从0.40 W递增到1.56 W。     

Lattice Boltzmann method modeling and experimental study on liquid water characteristics in the gas diffusion layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Water transport through the gas diffusion layer (GDL) is vital to proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), especially under flooding conditions. In this paper, a two-dimensional (2D) lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to reveal the water dynamic characteristics in GDL, and the computational domain is reconstructed based on the experiment. In-situ experiments, including I–V performance and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests under flooding conditions, are carried out and analyzed. It is found that the porosity distribution inside the GDL is a crucial factor in water dynamic behavior research. The horizontal liquid water saturation (HS_w) under the channel of real GDL (with porosity distribution) at 0.4 relative thickness are 3.2 times, 2.1 times and 3.4 times higher than the ideal GDL (without porosity distribution) in the case of 0.8 mm, 1.2 mm and 2.0 mm, respectively. The numerical simulation and experimental study show that water dynamic characteristics under the rib influence cell performance directly. In our LBM model, the GDL water distribution inconsistency (Var_w) under 2.0 mm width rib is 43.1% and 28.0% higher than that under the 0.8 mm and 1.2 mm rib, respectively. With the rib wider from 0.8 mm to 2.0 mm, some parts of cell impedance such as R_mt, R_ct, and L_mt increase 64.22%, 98.89%, and 47.46%, respectively. However, GDL under the channel shows no influence on water transport process.     

Three-dimensional thermocapillary–buoyancy flow of silicone oil in a differentially heated annular pool

In order to understand the characteristics of thermocapillary–buoyancy flow, we conducted a series of unsteady three-dimensional numerical simulations of thermocapillary–buoyancy flow of 0.65cSt silicone oil (Prandtl number Pr = 6.7) in an annular pool with different depth (d = 1–11 mm) heated from the outer wall (radius r_o = 40 mm) and cooled at the inner cylinder (r_i = 20 mm) with an adiabatic solid bottom and adiabatic free surface. Simulation conditions correspond to those in the experiments of Schwabe [D. Schwabe, Buoyant–thermocapillary and pure thermocapillary convective instabilities in Czochralski systems, J. Crystal Growth 237–239 (2002) 1849–1853]. Simulation results with large Marangoni number predict three types three-dimensional flow patterns. In the shallow thin pool (d = 1 mm), the hydrothermal wave characterized by curved spokes is dominant. In the deep pools (d ⩾ 5 mm) the three-dimensional stationary flow appears and this flow pattern corresponds to the Rayleigh-Benard instability, which consists of pairs of counter-rotating longitudinal rolls. When 2 mm ⩽ d ⩽ 4 mm, the hydrothermal wave and three-dimensional oscillatory flow coexist in the pool and travel along the same azimuthal direction with the same angular velocity. The critical conditions for the onset of three-dimensional flows were determined and compared with the experimental results. The characteristics of three-dimensional flows were discussed.     

Development of methanol steam reforming microreactor based on stacked wave sheets and copper foam for hydrogen production

Methanol steam reforming has been used for in-situ hydrogen production and supply for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), while its power density and energy efficiency still needs to be improved. Herein, we present a novel methanol steam reforming microreactor based on the stacked wave sheets and copper foam for highly efficient hydrogen production. The structural of stacked wave sheets and copper foam, and their roles in the microreactor are described, methanol catalytic combustion is adopted to supply heat for methanol steam reforming reaction and enables the microreactor to work automatically. For catalyst carrier, a fractal body-centered cubic model is established to study the flow characteristics and chemical reaction performances of the copper foam with coated catalyst layer. Both simulation and experimental results showed that the reformate flowrate increases with the increasing of microreactor layers and methanol solution flowrate, the discrepancies of methanol conversion between simulation and experimental tests are less than 7%. Experimental results demonstrated that the reformate flowrate of 1.0 SLM can be achieved with methanol conversion rate of 65%, the output power of the microreactor is 159 W and power density is 395 W/L. The results obtained in this study indicates that stacked wave sheets and copper foam can uniform the reactant flow and improve the hydrogen production performances.     

Numerical analysis on performances of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with various cathode flow channel geometries

This paper investigated numerically the effect of cathode channel shapes on the local transport characteristics and cell performance by using a three-dimensional, two-phase, and non-isothermal polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell model. The cells with triangle, trapezoid, and semicircle channels were examined using that with rectangular channel as comparison basis. At high operating voltages, the cells with various channel shapes would have similar performance. However, at low operating voltages, the fuel cell performance would follow: triangle > semicircle > trapezoid > rectangular channel. Analyses of the local transport phenomena in the cell indicate that triangle, trapezoid, and semicircle channel designs increase remarkably flow velocity of reactant, enhancing liquid water removal and oxygen utilization. Thus, these designs increase the limiting current density and improve the cell performance relative to rectangular channel design.     

Suppression of hydrogen–air detonation using porous materials in the channels of different cross section

Propagation of a detonation wave in a porous channel with different cross–section was experimentally studied. Experiments were performed in three rectangular channels with cross–sectional dimensions of 20 × 40 mm, 10 × 40 mm and 10 × 30 mm with two opposite walls covered with porous material to study the detonation suppression in stoichiometric hydrogen–air mixtures at atmospheric pressure. Detonation was initiated in 3000 mm long circular channel 20 mm in diameter. Porous material was covering 1/2 or 1/3 of the channel internal surface. Polyurethane foam with a number of pores per inch ranging from 10 to 80 was used for detonation attenuation. Piezoelectric pressure sensors were used to obtain the shock wave pressure. Detonation decay into the shock wave and the flame front was visualized using schlieren photography. Shock wave velocity was also calculated using high–speed schlieren image sequences. The strongest pressure attenuation was recorded in a 10 mm wide channel with a porous coating with largest pores (2.5 mm) covering 1/3 of the internal walls. The results indicate that even covering 1/3 of the internal surface of the channel leads to detonation decay and significant shock wave attenuation.     

Examination of compression effects on PEMFC performance by numerical and experimental analyses

In the present study, the effects of compression method on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) performance were investigated both numerically and experimentally. Total deformation of the components within the PEMFC was simulated by ANSYS three-dimensional finite element analysis (3D FEA). Moreover, geometrical and material properties of all components of PEMFC such as bipolar plates (BPP), membrane electrode assembly (MEA), gasket, current collector plate (CCP), screw and nut were implemented for accurate simulation of compression. In the experimental part, PEMFC tests were performed with 25 cm² active area single cell having 3 channel parallel in series (3 PS) flow channel via PEMFC test station with H₂ and air at 60 °C. The maximum power density was achieved as 0.458 W/cm² and 0.480 W/cm² for bolt compression and clamping plates compression, respectively. The equivalent stress values were found as 120 MPa that under 4389 N the clamping plates and 1600 MPa under bolt compression with 1.3 Nm torque. When numerical and experimental studies are examined together, it is seen that bolt compression has higher deformation and less equivalent stress than clamping plates compression.