Study on the influence of segmented fuel cell by grooving method and its application in oxygen starvation diagnosis

The oxygen starvation in fuel cells is an important reason for the deterioration of durability. The segmented fuel cell is a method to study the gas distribution inside the fuel cell. In order to study the influence of the grooving method on segmented fuel cell and its application in oxygen starvation diagnosis, a five-serpentine-channel three-dimensional two-phase simulation model is established by FLUENT. Through steady-state simulation, the effect of grooving method on fuel cell performance is studied. The overall performance (polarization curve) of the fuel cell drops slightly, but the current density distribution on the anode graphite plate changes greatly due to the grooves. The “current concentration” phenomenon is proposed based on the current density distribution. Through dynamic simulation, the oxygen starvation under current load mode and voltage load mode is simulated, and the “starvation coefficient” is defined as an oxygen starvation diagnostic index. In the current load mode, the “starvation coefficient” never exceed 15%, because when the oxygen starvation is severe, the simulation cannot converge or even cannot maintain, which corresponds to the voltage reversal in reality. However, in the voltage load mode, the “starvation coefficient” can reach up to 100%. The conclusions have important guiding significance for the judgment of the internal reaction uniformity of the segmented fuel cell by grooving method and provide a theoretical basis for judging whether a fuel cell is out of oxygen by segmented fuel cell.