Investigation of liquid water heterogeneities in large area proton exchange membrane fuel cells using a Darcy two-phase flow model in a multiphysics code

Proper management of the liquid water and heat produced in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells remains crucial to increase both its performance and durability. In this study, a two-phase flow and multicomponent model, called two-fluid model, is developed in the commercial COMSOL Multiphysics® software to investigate the liquid water heterogeneities in large area PEM fuel cells, considering the real flow fields in the bipolar plate. A macroscopic pseudo-3D multi-layers approach has been chosen and generalized Darcy's relation is used both in the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and in the channel. The model considers two-phase flow and gas convection and diffusion coupled with electrochemistry and water transport through the membrane. The numerical results are compared to one-fluid model results and liquid water measurements obtained by neutron imaging for several operating conditions. Finally, according to the good agreement between the two-fluid and experimentation results, the numerical water distribution is examined in each component of the cell, exhibiting very heterogeneous water thickness over the cell surface.     

水平井筒气水流动规律及影响因素

由于流动方向变化及壁面流体的不断径向入流，水平井筒的气水流动规律与常规直井存在较大差异。在总结前人研究结果的基础上，优选水平井筒气液两相预测模型，并在验证模型可靠的情况下，考虑管壁入流和气液流型变化，改变气量、水量、管径、倾角、轨迹波动、气水入流位置等多个影响因素，对水平段流型、压力分布规律及影响因素进行综合预测分析，为水平气井的生产管理及后期措施优化提供依据。研究结果表明，一般生产条件下水平井筒存在分层流、间歇流和环雾流3种流型，管径和倾角对水平井筒的气、水流型影响最为明显，管壁入流对入流就地井筒流态的影响较小。水平井筒压力损失与气量、水量、轨迹上倾角及轨迹波动起伏程度呈正相关性，而与管径和下倾角呈负相关性。预测范围内，气量、轨迹上倾和管径对水平井筒压力损失的影响最为明显，是水平井筒压降的关键影响因素。随着轨迹上倾角增加，水平井筒压降随气量的变化规律发生明显反转，低气量条件下水平井筒压降随气量的减小而增加，高气量下压降随气量增加而增加。     

Water electrolysis using plate electrodes in an electrode-paralleled non-uniform magnetic field

Compared with other ways to produce hydrogen, water electrolysis is the best way to obtain ultra-pure hydrogen, but its low energy efficiency greatly limits its wide application. It was proved that external magnetic field can reduce energy consumption, thereby increase electrolysis efficiency. Most of the researchers are focused on the impact of uniform magnetic field but few on a non-uniform one. To address the industrial operation reality, in our work, water electrolysis was operated using alkaline solution and plate electrodes in a non-uniform Magnetic field. The results show that a rotational flow on the vertical plane was formed by Lorentz force within the entire cell range. Although the entrainment effect of rotating flow made the cell full of microbubbles, the cell voltage was still reduced. By measuring the voltage difference of cathode side and anode side, we think that the bubble layer in the vicinity of the electrode surface matters the most among the sources of electric resistance. And the velocity distribution near the electrode was measured by PIV, it reveals that MHD flow is the dominant effect on the flow field of the cell. The results show that non-uniform magnetic field has potential merit in industrial electrolysis process.     

旋流分离-颗粒床耦合气固分离装备旋流场静压分布

针对一种集旋风分离器和内置颗粒床优势于一体的新型耦合气固分离装备在无灰负荷及固定床操作条件入口环形空间、分离空间和灰斗内静压场进行研究。结果表明，静压沿周向为非对称分布，轴向为非均匀分布，径向则呈中心低两侧高分布；且存在着静压分布的降压区(0?~180?，以入口处为0?)和增压区(180?~360?)；装备中心的负压及旋流作用在轴向高度H=6.41D(D为旋风壳体内径)以下对静压的影响不再显著；内置颗粒床外壁附近存在“滞留层”，有利于提高装备的分离性能。根据实验数据给出了静压周向分布和静压轴向分布的经验公式。     

基于同轴线相位法的两相流含气率测量研究

为了准确测量气液两相流含气率,提出一种同轴线相位差测量方法。利用同轴线传感器,通过测量电磁波经过在同轴线内分布状况不同的气液混合介质后相位差的变化,得到混合介质的含气率。完成了同轴线测量电路及测量传感器的设计,建立了一种含气率测量模型。以气液两相做了室内静态实验,并对垂直管状态下传感器响应和实验结果进行了误差分析。结果表明:相位差输出与含气率呈线性关系;同时,在不同频率下,预测结果和实验结果的相对误差在±5%范围内,说明预测模型准确度较好。     

Simultaneous recovery of glycyrrhizic acid and liquiritin from Chinese licorice root (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch) by aqueous two-phase system and evaluation biological activities of extracts

Aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) was used for simultaneous purification of glycyrrhizic acid (GA) and liquiritin (LQ) from crude extract of Chinese licorice root. It was revealed that 87% GA and 94% LQ were retrieved in the ATPS top phase, under the optimum conditions of 25% (w/w) ethanol, 30% (w/w) K₂HPO₄ and 4% (w/w) loading sample at 10–40°C. Compared with crude extract, the ATPS top-phase extract exhibited the highest antioxidative activity, but no tyrosinase inhibitory effect. Whereas, the ATPS bottom-phase extract was proved to be effective ABTS radical scavenger and tyrosinase inhibitor, suggesting the potency of the alcohol-salt ATPS purification for the different medicinal purposes.     

Experimental investigation of start-up and transient thermal performance of pumped two-phase battery thermal management system

In this study, a pumped two-phase battery thermal management system was developed, and its start-up and transient thermal performances were experimentally evaluated. The start-up behavior was characterized, and the effects of the flow rate, heat flux, and cold-source temperature on the start-up and transient thermal performances were examined. Three start-up modes were observed: fluctuating growth, temperature overshoot, and smooth growth. The fluctuating growth start-up mode appears to be suitable for battery cooling. The transient performance was improved when the flow rate was decreased, which resulted in a quicker start-up and lower average temperature (t_avg) and maximum temperature difference (∆t_max). Reducing the flow rate from 0.99 to 0.20 L/min significantly shortened the start-up time, lowered t_avg and ∆t_max, and increased the heat transfer coefficient (α) when the steady state was reached. Increasing the heat flux initially improved and then weakened the transient performance of the pumped two-phase system. Increasing the heat flux from 1.1 to 2.8 W/cm² initially reduced the start-up time and t_avg to 350 seconds and 1.5°C, respectively, but they then significantly increased to 360 seconds and 13.5°C, respectively. The transient t_avg and ∆t_max decreased with the cold-source temperature (t_cs), while the start-up time was independent of changes in t_cs.     

Prediction of curved oil–water interface in horizontal pipes using modified model with dynamic contact angle

In this study, interface shapes of horizontal oil–water two-phase flow are predicted by using Young-Laplace equation model and minimum energy model. Meanwhile, the interface shapes of horizontal oil–water twophase flow in a 20 mm inner diameter pipe are measured by a novel conductance parallel-wire array probe(CPAP). It is found that, for flow conditions with low water holdup, there is a large deviation between the model-predicted interface shape and the experimentally measured one. Since the variation of pipe wetting characteristics in the process of fluid flow can lead to the changes of the contact angle between the fluid and the pipe wall, the models mentioned above are modified by considering dynamic contact angle. The results indicate that the interface shapes predicted by the modified models present a good consistence with the ones measured by CPAP.