Recent progress of the gas diffusion layer in proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Material and structure designs of microporous layer

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have become the most attractive power supply units for stationary and mobile applications. The operation, design characteristics, as well as performance of PEMFCs, are closely related to the multiphase transport of mass, heat, and electricity in the cell, a critical of which is the gas diffusion layer (GDL). It is very important to guarantee the transmission of water and gasses under high current density, and which is the weakness of PEMFCs at present. Microporous layer (MPL) is considered to be the key variable for mass transfer, so varieties of works focus on modification of MPL materials and its structure design. However, there is still a lack of special review to summarize and prospect the progress of MPL in recent years. This review article therefore focuses on the insights and comprehensive understanding of four critical issues of the MPL, the porosity, pore size distribution, wettability, structural design and the durability of MPL. At last, the conclusion and recommendations section summarized the future prospects and recommendations for possible research opportunities.     

Effect of water distribution in gas diffusion layer on proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance

Water management of proton exchange membrane fuel cells remains a prominent issue in research concerning fuel cells. In this study, the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of a fuel cell is partially treated with a hydrophobic agent, and the effect of GDL hydrophobicity on the water distribution in the fuel cell is examined. First, the effect of the position of the cathode GDL hydrophobic area relative to the channel on the fuel cell performance is investigated. Then, the water distribution in the fuel cell cathode GDL is observed using X-ray imaging. The experimental results indicate that when the hybrid GDL's hydrophobic area lies on the channel, water tends to accumulate under the rib, and the water content in the channel is low; this improves the fuel cell performance. When the hydrophobic area is under the rib, the water distribution is more uniform, but the performance deteriorates.     

Effect of fiber orientation on Liquid–Gas flow in the gas diffusion layer of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

In this study, the lattice Boltzmann method was used to simulate the three-dimensional intrusion process of liquid water in the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The GDL was reconstructed by the stochastic method and used to investigate fiber orientation's influence on liquid water transport in the GDL of a PEMFC. The fiber orientation can be described by the angle between a single fiber and the in-plane direction; three different samples were simulated for three different fiber orientation ranges. The simulated permeability correlated well with the anisotropic characteristics of reconstructed carbon papers. It was concluded that the fiber orientation had a significant effect on the liquid invasion pattern in the GDL by changing the pore shape and distribution of the GDL. The results indicated that the stochastically reconstructed GDL, taking into account the fiber orientation, better demonstrates the mass transport properties of the GDL.     

Modeling and numerical investigation of hydrogen nucleate flow boiling heat transfer

Liquid hydrogen flow boiling heat transfer in tubes is of great importance in the hydrogen applications such as superconductor cooling, hydrogen fueling. In the present study, a numerical model for hydrogen nucleate flow boiling based on the wall partition heat flux model is established. The key parameters in the model such as active nucleation site density, bubble departure diameter and frequency are carefully discussed and determined to facilitate the modeling and simulation of hydrogen flow boiling. Simulation results of the numerical model show reasonably well agreement with experimental data from different research groups in a wide operation condition range with the means absolute error (MAE) of 10.6% for saturated and 5.3% for subcooled flow boiling. Based on the model, wall heat flux components and void fraction distribution of hydrogen flow boiling are studied. Effects of mass flow rate and wall heat flux on the flow boiling heat transfer performance are investigated. It is found that in the hydrogen nucleate flow boiling, the predominated factor is the Boiling number, rather than the vapor quality. A new simple correlation is proposed for predicting hydrogen saturated nucleate flow boiling Nusselt number. The MAE between the correlation predicted and experimentally measured Nusselt number is 13.6% for circular tubes and 12.5% for rectangular tubes. The new correlation is applicable in the range of channel diameter 4–6.35 mm, Reynolds number 64000–660,000, saturation temperature 22–29 K, Boiling number 8.37 × 10^?5–2.33 × 10^?3.     

炼化装置高压串低压风险分析

结合高压串低压事故,运用保护层风险分析方法进行系统分析,帮助操作人员从保护层管理方面出发,更加直观的分析装置工艺设计与操作中存在的隐患与缺陷,从而更好的防止事故发生。     

碳纤维复合材料薄壁圆筒的轴向导热系数测试

碳纤维复合材料薄壁圆筒为各向异性导热，其轴向导热系数是筒体温度场理论计算、成型工艺优化的重要参数。碳纤维复合材料圆筒由于较小的截面面积给筒体加热、热量有效传递带来了较大困难。本文以平板材料导热系数的稳态法测试国家标准为基础，基于傅里叶一维稳态导热原理，设计了一套用于薄壁圆筒轴向导热系数测试的装置，采用双试件对称加热、辐射换热防护及热对流环境控制等实现了热量沿筒体轴向的有效传导，利用该装置对导热系数已知的铝筒进行测试，验证了该装置设计的可行性，得到了碳纤维复合材料薄壁圆筒的轴向导热系数为（4.60±0.13） W/(m•K)。     

Möbius变换下四次有理抛物-PH曲线的C2 Hermite插值

目的 曲线插值问题在机器人设计、机械工业、航天工业等诸多现代工业领域都有广泛的应用，而已知端点数据的Hermite插值是计算机辅助几何设计中一种常用的曲线构造方法，本文讨论了一种偶数次有理等距曲线，即四次抛物-PH曲线的C² Hermite插值问题。方法 基于M bius变换引入参数，利用复分析的方法构造了四次有理抛物-PH曲线的C² Hermite插值，给出了具体插值算法及相应的Bézier曲线表示和控制顶点的表达式。结果 通过给出"合理"的端点插值数据，以数值实例表明了该算法的有效性，所得12条插值曲线中，结合最小绝对旋转数和弹性弯曲能量最小化两种准则给出了判定满足插值条件最优曲线的选择方法，并以具体实例说明了与其他插值方法的对比分析结果。结论 本文构造了M bius变换下的四次有理抛物-PH曲线的C² Hermite插值，在保证曲线次数较低的情况下，达到了连续性更高的插值条件，计算更为简单，插值效果明显，较之传统奇数次PH曲线具有更加自然的几何形状，对偶数次PH曲线的相关研究具有一定意义。     

DR环形吹风冷却装置及智能控制系统设计研究

介绍了河北达瑞化纤机械有限公司开发的DR环形吹风冷却装置,该装置能实现自动、精准、快速更换整流筒,打破了原有环吹风装置整流筒从风室顶部安装这一传统模式,利用风室底部安装和风室密封结构改变,采用气缸动力下的自动调节技术,实现了快速更换整流筒。该装置在维修和更换整流筒组件时,无须搬动上压盖,无须拆装若干螺栓,能自动化操作,降低了操作工人劳动强度,缩短了操作时间。开发的DCS智能控制系统,实现了实时智能监测冷却吹风装置的运行状况。     

Reformate-enriched gasoline-ethanol blends: Volatility criteria and azeotrope formation

Four hydrocarbon-base gasolines (BG) were formulated from the local refinery streams; isomerate, reformate, and light naphtha. The formulations were enriched in reformate. Each of these BG formulations was blended with 10 vol% of anhydrous ethanol. From ASTM-D86 distillation data, eight distillation curves were constructed and the trend line equations of these distillation curves were developed. Also, the area under each distillation curve (AUDC) was calculated through calculus definite integration technique. Subsequently, the area due to azeotrope formation (ADAF) for each BG-ethanol blend was estimated. In this paper, the influence of increasing reformate proportions on the created positive azeotrope, was studied. Also the influence of increasing reformate proportions on vapor pressure, Temperature for the vapor-liquid ratio of 20, T50 and octane number was studied. The results show that the R² values of the distillation curve equations prove the reliability of the fits. Also, increasing reformate proportion in the fuel blend improves the octane number while increasing reformate proportion decreases the volatility of the fuel formulation.