A three-dimensional numerical simulation of the transport phenomena in the cathodic side of a PEMFC

A three-dimensional numerical model is developed to simulate the transport phenomena on the cathodic side of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) that is in contact with parallel and interdigitated gas distributors. The computational domain consists of a flow channel together with a gas diffusion layer on the cathode of a PEMFC. The effective diffusivities according to the Bruggman correlation and Darcy's law for porous media are used for the gas diffusion layer. In addition, the Tafel equation is used to describe the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on the catalyst layer surface. Three-dimensional transport equations for the channel flow and the gas diffusion layer are solved numerically using a finite-volume-based numerical technique. The nature of the multi-dimensional transport in the cathode side of a PEMFC is illustrated by the fluid flow, mass fraction and current density distribution. The interdigitated gas distributor gives a higher average current density on the catalyst layer surface than that with the parallel gas distributor under the same mass flow rate and cathode overpotential. Moreover, the limiting current density increased by 40% by using the interdigitated flow field design instead of the parallel one.     

Effects of flow channel geometry on cell performance for PEM fuel cells with parallel and interdigitated flow fields

A 3D numerical model was developed to explore the effects of the cathode flow channel configuration on the local transport phenomena and cell performance for parallel and interdigitated flow fields in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The effect of liquid water formation on the reactant transport is taken into account in the model. For operating voltages greater than 0.7 V, the electrochemical reaction rates are low with a small amount of oxygen consumption and liquid water production, and all cell designs provide sufficient oxygen for the electrochemical reactions. Thus, the flow channel aspect ratio and the flow channel cross-sectional area have little effect on the cell performance. For operating voltages lower than 0.7 V, as the operating voltage decreases the electrochemical reaction rates gradually increase with a large amount of oxygen consumption and liquid water production, so the cell performance is strongly dependent on the flow field design. For the parallel flow field design, lower flow channel aspect ratios and flow channel cross-sectional area areas improve liquid water removal, thus, decreasing both improves cell performance. However, the interdigitated design has an optimal aspect ratio of 1.00 and an optimal cross-sectional area of 1.000 mm × 1.000 mm.     

质子交换膜燃料电池仿真模型研究进展

质子交换膜燃料电池具有高效清洁等优势,是一种潜力巨大的绿色能源技术。数学模型作为一种合理可靠的工具,通过模拟电池内部的电化学传热传质过程,研究运行参数和结构参数对电池性能和寿命的影响,可以指导电池的优化设计。本文综述了近年来燃料电池催化层、气体扩散层和流道的研究模型,整理了各部件建模的影响因素和优化方法,以期对燃料电池建模以及电池各部件的优化设计起到参考作用。文中指出,考虑到现在仿真存在的局限性,未来主要研究方向为燃料电池系统研究与机理模型的结合、催化层微观结构的建模、非贵金属催化剂建模、气体扩散层衰减模型研究、大面积流道模型、三维模型温度分布研究以及全尺寸质子交换膜燃料电池模型的开发。     

微流道气-液两相流研究及其在PEMFC中的应用进展

微流道由于具有比表面积高、传质能力强等优点,已成功地应用于化工领域的多种气-液反应体系中。此外,其在化工领域中的研究成果还可以应用于目前备受关注的燃料电池领域以提高其电化学转化效率。然而,微流道尺度的微小化以及其中气-液两相流规律的复杂性使得微流道内的气-液两相流特性的阐明还需要进一步的研究,才能促使微流道在实际应用中发挥更优异的作用。本文从流型、压降和传质三个关键特征的研究角度来介绍微流道内气-液两相流的研究进展,简述了不同流型的特征及其形成条件,阐明了其对应的压降大小和传质能力的高低,回顾了现有的压降和传质系数的预测模型及其相应的优化措施,并分析了运用这三个关键特征的相关参数来优化质子交换膜燃料电池流场设计方面的研究进展,得到了流场类型、流道尺寸、流道形状、流道表面特性等的优化方案。但是,燃料电池中的精细流道的特殊结构及其特定工况使得其与传统的微流道有显著的区别。由此,本文提出了应当根据燃料电池精细流道的特点探明其中的两相流型、压降和传质的动态变化规律以及构建相应的压降预测模型的建议,以期为流场设计提供更准确的参考依据,进而提高燃料电池性能,加速燃料电池的商用进程。     

Effect of the geometry and pattern of the flow channel on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

This research focuses on the effect of the geometry and patterns of the gas flow channel on the PEM fuel cell performance. Simulation was conducted and the results were verified by experiments. Three-dimensional, single phase, compressible and isothermal models of 5 cm² electrodes, anode and cathode, were developed and studied by utilizing a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, FLUENT 4.5. Two types of gas flow channel were investigated: conventional and interdigitated. The results showed that the flow channel pattern does not have a significant effect on the anode cell performance, whereas it has a strong effect/influence on the cathode cell performance. The interdigitated design provides a higher limiting current density and cell performance than the conventional design on the cathode side. Moreover, the cell performance does not depend on the inlet and outlet channel widths. On the contrary, for the interdigitated design, it was influenced by the shoulder width. Finally, experiments were conducted to validate the simulation results.     

PEMFC流道截面对气体浓度在催化层分布影响的数值分析

以蛇形流场质子交换膜燃料电池阴极为研究对象,取其中一部分建立三维、稳态的数学计算模型,利用CFD（计算流体动力学）方法研究了质子交换膜燃料电池阴极内的流动和传质过程,得到了阴极内氧气和水蒸气的质量分数的分布情况,探讨了流道宽度和深度对气体在催化层空间分布的影响,为燃料电池流场的设计和改进提供了参考依据。     

运行背压变化对低压缸零出力技术安全性及经济性的影响分析

介绍了“低压缸零出力技术”的工作原理及热力系统,并针对运行背压变化对低压缸零出力技术安全性及经济性的影响进行了详细分析。结果表明：机组在低压缸零出力工况下运行时,在主蒸汽流量为1961.0t/h情况下,运行背压由0.0049MPa降到0.0029MPa,低压缸容积流量则由3387137m³/h增长到5449587m³/h,供热负荷由862.4MW增长到899.0MW,机组发电煤耗由198.7g/(kW·h)降低到186.0g/(kW·h);在主蒸汽流量为1861.3t/h情况下,运行背压由0.0049MPa降到0.0029MPa,低压缸容积流量则由3391026m³/h增长到5446086m³/h,供热负荷由821.9MW增长到858.6MW,机组发电煤耗由201.7g/(kW·h)降低到187.0g/(kW·h)。可见机组在低压缸零出力工况下运行时,通过增加低压缸的容积流量,会增强低压缸运行的安全性,因此通过适当降低机组运行背压,有利于改善机组运行的安全性,并且能够降低机组的发电煤耗,提高机组的经济效益。     

Experimental and numerical study on improvement performance by wave parallel flow field in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

The performance and operation stability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are closely related to the transportation of reactants and water management in the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and flow field. In this paper, a new three-dimensional wave parallel flow field (WPFF) in cathode was designed and analyzed throughout simulation studies and an experimental method. The experimental results show that the performance of PEMFC with WPFF outperforms that of PEMFC with straight parallel flow field (SPFF). Specifically, the peak power density increased by 13.45% for the PEMFC with WPFF as opposed to PEMFC with SPFF. In addition, the flow field with area of 11.56 cm² was formed by the assembly of transparent end plate used for cathode and the traditional graphite plate used for anode. To understand the mechanism of the novel flow field improving the performance of PEMFC, a model of PEMFC was proposed based on the geometry, operating conditions and MEA parameters. The thickness of gas diffusion layers (GDL), catalytic layers (CL) and proton exchange membrane were measured by scanning electron microscope. The simulation result shows that compared with SPFF, the WPFF based PEMFC promote the oxygen transfer from flow channel to the surface of CL through GDL, and it was beneficial to remove the liquid water in the flow channel and the MEA.     

基于金属氢化物固态氢源的氢燃料电池动力系统特性的研究

以基于金属氢化物的固态储氢技术,与质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)耦合,搭建了基于金属氢化物固态氢源的氢燃料电池动力系统试验台,测试了吸氢压力、放氢温度、氢流量等关键操作参数对氢燃料电池动力系统性能的影响。结果表明,当吸氢压力大于等于0.60 MPa时,固态储氢反应器放氢流量稳定的时间最长可达4500 s以上。当放氢温度大于60℃时,储氢反应器能完全释放氢气,且放氢时间基本相同。放氢流量越小,氢燃料电池动力系统稳定工作的时间越长。     

Comparison of multi-inlet and serpentine channel design on water production of PEMFCs

Two flow field designs, a new multi-inlet design and a conventional serpentine design, for a PEMFC together with relative humidity (RH) and porosity of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) are studied in relation to net water production using a 3-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation. The results show that (1) with increasing GDL porosity, discharged water in the serpentine design slightly increases, because accumulated water decreases, whereas discharged water in the multi-inlet design decreases due to a reduction of generated water; (2) although fuel cell power performance improves as RH increases, net water production decreases in both designs, because more water is accumulated; and (3) comparatively higher power and net water production are observed with the multi-inlet design, owing to uniform distributions of reactant gas and water. It is determined that, for net water production without compromising power production, input water should be decreased and, for higher cell performance, flow field design like multi-inlet design should be developed.     

PEMFC流道横截面二维两相流数学模型(Ⅱ)流道设计对电池性能影响

利用之前建立的数学模型（across-the-channel model）研究了流道设计对电池性能的影响。结果表明,对不同增湿条件的质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFC）,其流道设计策略应有所不同：在增湿较差或者不增湿的条件下,电池阴极流场板应当采用较宽的脊以获得较好的保湿效果;在增湿较好的条件下,则应当采用较窄的脊以增强阴极排水功能,从而提高电池性能。     

Modelling of performance of PEM fuel cells with conventional and interdigitated flow fields

A simple mathematical model is developed to investigate the superiority of the interdigitated flow field design over the conventional one, especially in terms of maximum power density. Darcy's equation for porous media and the standard diffusion equation with effective diffusivity are used in the gas diffuser, and a coupled boundary condition given by the Butler–Volmer equation is used at the catalyst layer interface. The performance of PEM fuel cells with a conventional flow field and an interdigitated flow field is studied with other appropriate boundary conditions. The theoretical results show that the limiting current density of a fuel cell with an interdigitated flow field is about three times the current density of a fuel cell with a conventional flow field. The results also demonstrate that the interdigitated flow field design can double the maximum power density of a PEM fuel cell. The modelling results compared well with experimental data in the literature.     

Systematic study of back pressure and anode stoichiometry effects on spatial PEMFC performance distribution

A segmented cell system was applied to investigate the effects of the anode and cathode back pressure and hydrogen stoichiometry on fuel cell performance in terms of overpotential distributions along the flow field. The segmented cell system was designed with closed loop Hall sensors and a data acquisition system allowing simultaneous spatial electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) measurements. It was determined that an increase in back pressure for the tested serpentine flow field design results in an improvement of the cell performance and uneven improvement of individual segments’ performance. In general, the performance and the overpotentials become more uniform downstream with an increase in the back pressure due to a decrease in activation and mass transfer losses. Spatial EIS data for the PEMFC operated at different back pressures support the overpotential analysis. Hydrogen stoichiometry variations do not affect the performance of the cell or the individual segments at low current density because there is no significant hydrogen concentration gradient in the flow field. However, at high current densities a reduction in hydrogen stoichiometry produces a slight decrease in performance for inlet segments while outlet segments showed a noticeable performance loss. The decrease in performance is attributed to an increase in mass transfer losses due to nitrogen diffusion from the cathode to the anode. This effect becomes more pronounced for the outlet segments due to a downstream nitrogen accumulation. Under high current density conditions, the cell is locally fuel starved even with a high fuel stoichiometry creating conditions leading to cell degradation by carbon corrosion. More importantly, this local degradation is masked by the overall cell performance which remains largely unaffected.     

Numerical investigation of the performance and transport phenomena of a proton‐exchange membrane fuel cell with a wavelike gas flow channel design

This article investigates the performance of a proton‐exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with a novel wavelike gas flow channel. Numerical simulations have been performed to investigate the effect of the wavelike channel profile on the gas flow characteristics, temperature distribution, electrochemical reaction efficiency, and electrical performance. The simulation results show that compared to a conventional straight gas flow channel, the wavelike channel increases the fuel flow velocity, enhances the transport through the porous layer, and improves the temperature distribution. As a result, the PEMFC has improved fuel utilization efficiency and superior heat‐transfer characteristics. Furthermore, the results show that the wavelike gas flow channel yields a higher PEMFC output voltage and improves the maximum power density by approximately 32.5%. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

常规流场和交指型流场的质子交换膜燃料电池传热传质三维模拟

针对常规流场和交指型流场的质子交换膜燃料电池提出了三维非等温数学模型。模型详细考虑了电池内部的传热、传质和电化学反应，重点考察了多孔介质内的组分传递和膜内水的电渗和扩散作用，对氧气传递限制和膜内水迁移对电池性能的影响进行了分析和讨论。结果表明，流道的交指型设计加强了气体在多孔介质内的质量传递，提高了电池的输出性能，但相应地，阴极催化层界面水分的减少也使得膜的水合程度降低，这就需要更有效的水管理来防止膜脱水。     

空气源电化学连续分离制氧(Ⅰ):单池性能优化

随着工业化进程高速发展,尤其受近期“雾霾”的影响,大气环境质量越来越受重视。空气中氧气补给是提高空气质量的关键方法之一。相对于传统制氧技术(如空气物理分离法、化学法以及水电解法等),空气源电化学连续分离制纯氧技术具有空气源分离制纯氧、能量效率高、连续运行、环境友好、安静、易规模放大等特点,可实现室内外场合应用。该技术的关键部件是质子交换膜燃料电池和固体聚合物电解质电解池(简称燃料电池和电解池)。分别考察了其单池操作条件对性能的影响,如燃料电池的操作温度、相对湿度、气体利用率和压强,以及电解池的供水方式、循环水流速、操作温度等。测试了燃料电池单池极化曲线、电化学交流阻抗谱,并计算了膜电导率和活化能。对极化曲线进行拟合得出塔菲尔(Tafel)斜率、氧还原反应交换电流密度i₀以及传质影响参数m、n等基本动力学参数。结果表明,氢空燃料电池单池最优化条件为:常压条件下,操作温度为60℃,峰值功率密度可达0.42 W·cm^-2,膜面电阻为77 mΩ·cm²,膜电导率为41.4 mS·cm^-1。Tafel斜率受温度影响较小,在120 mV·dec^-1左右,但受相对湿度影响较大。相对湿度对单池性能影响显著。电解池单池最优化操作条件为:操作温度对性能影响较大且最佳为65℃,膜面电阻为1.08 Ω·cm²,膜电导率为11.7 mS·cm^-1。循环水流速对性能影响较小。供水方式的优劣次序为两极供水≈阳极供水>阴极供水。在上述实验条件下,燃料电池中Nafion^®211膜和电解池中Nafion^®115膜的活化能计算值分别为3.75和4.61 kJ·mol^-1。基于燃料电池和电解池的单池电化学性能优化,研究结果可为后续的制氧机系统中电池堆的实施提供实验依据。     

Water flooding and pressure drop characteristics in flow channels of proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Water flooding of the flow channels is one of the critical issues to the design and operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The liquid water and total pressure drop characteristics both in the anode and cathode parallel flow channels of an operating PEMFC were experimentally studied. The gas/liquid two-phase flow both in the anode and cathode flow channels was observed, and the total pressure drop between the inlet and outlet of the flow field was measured. The effects of cell temperature, current density and operating time on the total pressure drop were investigated. The results indicated that the total pressure drop in the flow channels mainly depends on the resistance of the liquid water in the flow channels to the gas flow, and the different flow patterns distinguish the total pressure drops in the flow field. Clogging by water columns result in a higher pressure drop in the flow channels. The total pressure drop measurement can be considered as an in situ diagnoses method to characterize the degree of the flow channels flooding. The liquid water in the cathode flow channels was much more than that in the anode flow channels. The pressure drop in the cathode flow channels was higher than that in the anode flow channels. During the fuel cell operation, the cell performance decreased gradually and the pressure drop both in the anode and the cathode flow channels increased. The rate of flooding at the cathode side reached 49.56% under experimental conditions after 78 min of operation. However, it was zero at the anode side.     

PEMFC用Pt纳米线阴极催化剂的制备及在电堆中的应用

采用无模板法制备了用于质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFC）的碳载铂纳米线（Pt NWs/C）阴极催化剂,使用透射电镜（TEM）和X射线衍射图谱技术（XRD）对催化剂的微观结构和形貌进行了表征。研究结果表明,制备的铂催化剂具有纳米线的结构,平均截面直径为（4.0±0.2）nm,线长为15～25 nm。利用循环伏安（CV）法和线性伏安扫描法（LSV）表征催化剂的电化学活性和氧还原反应（ORR）特性,结果表明制备的Pt NWs/C催化剂电化学特性良好。利用Pt NWs/C和Pt/C作为阴极催化剂制备膜电极（MEA）,并进行测试,最大功率密度分别为705.6 mW·cm^-2和674.4 mW·cm^-2。然后以Pt NWs/C和Pt/C为阴极催化剂组装了18片和20片的电堆,并进行性能测试,电堆的最大功率密度分别为409.2 mW·cm^-2和702.7 mW·cm^-2,单电池电压差异系数（C_v）分别为16.1%和4.36%,这表明Pt NWs/C作为阴极催化剂在放大后的膜电极组件（MEA）里表现出较好的催化活性,但与商业催化剂相比其性能与均一性还有待提高。该研究可为Pt NWs/C催化剂放大制备提供依据,同时可为后续的基于Pt NWs/C的电堆的耐久性测试和车载应用奠定基础。     

Flow‐Field Designs of Bipolar Plates in PEM Fuel Cells: Theory and Applications

A generalized model developed by Wang was modified for flow field designs of the most common layout configurations with U‐type arrangement, including single serpentine, multiple serpentine, straight parallel, and interdigitated configurations. A direct and quantitative relationship was established among flow distribution, pressure drop, configurations, structures, and flow conditions. The model was used for a direct, systematic, and quantitative comparison of flow distributions and pressure drops among the most common layout configurations of interest. The straight parallel configuration had the lowest pressure drops but suffered the most possibility of the uneven flow distribution across the channels. The single serpentine had the best flow distribution but had the highest pressure drops. The flow distribution and the pressure drop in the multiple serpentine was between the straight parallel and the single serpentine. Finally, we suggested basic criteria of the flow field designs of bipolar plates for the industrial applications. This provides a practical guideline to evaluate how far a fuel cell is from design operating conditions, and measures how to improve flow distribution and pressure drop.     

微型质子交换膜燃料电池设计与性能分析

This study describes a novel micro proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) (active area, 2.5 cm2). The flow field plate is manufactured by applying micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology to silicon substrates to etch flow channels without a gold-coating. Therefore, this investigation used MEMS technology for fabrication of a flow field plate and presents a novel fabrication procedure. Various operating parameters, such as fuel temperature and fuel stoichiometric flow rate, are tested to optimize micro PEMFC performance. A single micro PEMFC using MEMS technology reveals the ideal performance of the proposed fuel cell. The optimal power density approaches 232.75 mW•cm－1 when the fuel cell is operated at ambient condition with humidified, heated fuel.