质子交换膜燃料电池的气体扩散层渗透率分形模型

本文提出了质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFCs）气体扩散层（GDL）分形渗透率模型。这个模型是根据扩散层真实微观结构中的两个分形维数建立的。其中一个与毛细管流通道大小有关,另一个与通道迁曲度的描述有关。此外,气体分子的影响可以通过Adzumi方程计算。渗透率分形模型是多孔介质迁曲度分形维数、孔隙面积分形维数、孔径以及有效孔隙度的函数,模型中没有任何经验常数,可以用压汞法测量扩散层的微观结构。根据扫描电子显微镜图象,可用盒式维数法确定两个分形维数。为了检验模型的正确性,把该模型渗透率的预测数据与Toray提供的实验数据进行对比,发现该模型的渗透率预测与实验数据一致,证实了气体扩散层的分形渗透率模型的正确性。     

模拟PEM燃料电池环境下质子交换膜损伤研究

该文研究在模拟燃料电池环境下的质子交换膜（PEM）材料的损伤情况。选用2种溶液模拟质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFC）环境,一种是接近燃料电池实际运行环境溶液,称为正规溶液（RS）,另一种则为加速试样老化的加速持久性（ADT）溶液。采用衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外光谱（ATR-FTIR）和X射线光电子能谱（XPS）技术对老化试样表面的化学成分变化进行研究;同时,采用机械拉伸性能试验对老化前后试样进行研究。试验结果表明,在模拟PEMFC环境下,随着老化时间的增加,试样表面分子结构和化学成分发生明显变化,抗拉强度和断裂伸长率降低,试样材料损伤加剧。     

气体扩散层结构对PEMFC性能影响二维数值模拟

质子交换膜燃料电池在运行过程中反应物从流道传输至催化层时会经过气体扩散层,气体扩散层即 可用来传输反应气体,又用来排出反应物生成的水,所以探究气体扩散层的结构对参加反应的物质及生成物 传输的影响规律有助于了解其分布情况。通过数值模拟比较了穿孔型、树状型和不规则形状气体扩散层在不 同孔隙率下顺流流动时对电池性能的影响情况。计算结果表明,气体扩散层结构严重影响质子交换膜燃料电 池性能,三种不同形状的气体扩散层对应的电性能随孔隙率的变化规律各不相同,到达催化层表面氧气的含 量受扩散层结构影响比氢气大,气体扩散层结构对阴极侧生成物水含量的影响不可忽略。     

PEM燃料电池流场形状研究现状

双极板是质子交换膜燃料电池堆的重要部件之一,流场形状结构构成了双极板最主要特征。文章将近年来流场形状的研究现状进行梳理,通过对比分析各种流场设计方法,其对反应物与生成物的分布影响,流场内压力、热量及电流密度分布,流场制造成本等。总结各种流场优缺点,得出燃料电池不同实际应用情况下的最佳流场类型。以此为质子交换膜燃料电池流场的结构设计及研究发展方向提供可行性参考。     

模拟PEM燃料电池环境下垫片材料的化学损伤研究

对暴露在模拟质子交换膜(PEM)燃料电池环境下的硅橡胶弹性体垫片材料的化学损伤情况进行探究。采用平衡溶胀法测定试样暴露在模拟PEM燃料电池环境下交联密度的变化情况。采用衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外光谱(ATR-FTIR)和X射线光电子能谱(XPS)对老化试样表面的化学成分进行研究。实验结果表明,试样在加速持久性实验(ADT)溶液中交联密度明显降低,在常规(RS)溶液中变化不明显。ATR-FTIR和XPS实验结果表明,在模拟燃料电池环境下,试样表面分子结构随暴露时间发生明显变化,试样表面化学损伤加剧。材料的化学损伤主要表现为硅橡胶主链的断裂和高分子交联区的水解。     

扩散层结构对质子交换膜燃料电池性能的影响

设计了等效孔隙率为0.67且含有不同孔径分布的5种扩散层,并建立了二维、单相、等温的质子交换膜燃料电池稳态模型,模拟研究了扩散层内不同孔径分布对电池性能的影响。研究表明,扩散层骨架的特性直接影响电池的电性能,电子通道的最小尺寸会影响极化曲线欧姆极化区的斜率;阳极侧氢气的传输受孔结构影响不大,认为基本不受孔结构的影响;在阴极侧,氧气的传输受气体通道与流道交界面尺寸的影响。     

质子交换膜燃料电池专用碳纸的制备及性能测试

采用湿法造纸技术制备质子交换膜燃料电池电极扩散层专用碳纸材料,考察了影响专用碳纸性能的主要因素。研究结果表明：分散剂、粘合剂和纤维长度等对碳纸物性具有较大影响。以3M的NaOH处理碳纸的基体材料,控制打浆度20°SR,按比例加入自制功能性分散剂,在优化工艺条件下,制备的碳纸物性基本和日本东丽公司产品(Toray碳纸)物性相同。以自制的碳纸和Toray碳纸为电极扩散层基体材料组装成电池,放电性能测试表明,自制碳纸是一种较为理想的燃料电池电极扩散层基体材料。     

PEM 燃料电池电系统"单耗分析"及其减排效应

在介绍了属于低温燃料电池系列的质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)工作原理、特性及PEMFC供电系统组成的基础上,运用"单耗分析"理论对系统进行了环节划分,分别建立了燃料单耗与成本单耗分析模型.以某实际PEMFC供电系统运行数据为依据,对系统进行了单耗分析,并与大电网供电比较分析了温室气体CO2与污染物NOχ的减排效应.结果指出了PEMFC供电系统中各环节(火用)效率对燃料单耗与成本的影响程度;系统发供电年CO2减排率25%左右,NOχ减排率达到了99.96%以上.具有较好的发展前景.     

模拟PEM燃料电池环境下垫片材料的疲劳损伤研究

以质子交换膜（PEM）燃料电池垫片常用材料（硅橡胶弹性体材料）为对象,研究垫片材料在模拟PEM燃料电池环境下的疲劳损伤情况。选用2种溶液模拟PEM燃料电池环境,一种为接近实际PEM燃料电池环境的溶液,即正规溶液（RS）,另一种为加速损伤试验的加速持久性试验（ADT）溶液。采用压缩疲劳试验和屈挠疲劳试验方法,研究垫片材料在2种模拟PEM燃料电池环境下的疲劳损伤行为。压缩疲劳试验结果表明,PEM燃料电池模拟环境和老化时间对试样的压缩疲劳温升有重要影响,试样暴露在ADT环境下的疲劳温升较暴露在RS环境下高;随着老化时间的增加,试样的疲劳温升增大,疲劳损伤加剧。屈挠疲劳试验结果表明,PEM燃料电池模拟环境和老化时间对试样的疲劳寿命有显著影响,暴露在ADT溶液中的试样疲劳寿命小于暴露在RS溶液中;试样的疲劳寿命随老化时间的增加而减少。     

基于XCT的气体扩散层传输特性孔尺度模拟

为了探究质子交换膜燃料电池气体扩散层中孔隙率对各向异性传输特性的影响，先利用X射线计算机断层扫描（XCT）可视化技术方法对Freudenberg H2315 GDL气体扩散层进行三维微观结构重构，随后利用孔尺度模型分别研究了气体有效扩散率、曲度、有效电导率、有效热导率与孔隙率的关系，利用格子-玻尔兹曼模型研究液态水渗透率在厚度方向和平面内方向与孔隙率的关系，以及液态水饱和度和毛细压强的关系。结果表明：孔隙率对传输特性有显著的影响，Freudenberg H2315GDL气体扩散层表现出明显的各向同性。     

Visualization of water transport in GDL and flow channel of PEMFC

Liquid water penetrating the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was studied. The gas diffuse layer (GDL) has a great impact on PEMFC's performanc3e, and is an important component of a PEMFC. An ex‐situ test was conducted on a transparent test cell to visualize the water droplet formation and detachment on the surface of different types of GDLs through a CCD camera. The breakthrough pressure, at which the liquid water penetrates the GDL and starts to form a droplet, was measured. The breakthrough pressure was found to be different for GDLs with different porosities and thicknesses. The equilibrium pressure, which is defined as the minimum pressure required for maintaining a constant flow through the GDL, was also recorded. The equilibrium pressure was found to be much lower than the breakthrough pressure for the same type of GDL. Also the drain performance using three kinds of different bipolar plates were compared in this paper. According to the result of experiment, the average diameters of porous GDLs were found determining the penetrating pressure. Serpentine flow channel proved the best pattern for drainage. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20330     

Dynamic behaviour of liquid water emerging from a GDL pore into a PEMFC gas flow channel

A numerical investigation of the dynamic behaviour of liquid water entering a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) channel through a GDL pore is reported. Two-dimensional, transient simulations employing the volume of fluid (VOF) method are performed to explicitly track the liquid–gas interface, and to gain understanding into the dynamics of a water droplet subjected to air flow in the bulk of the gas channel. The modeled domain consists of a straight channel with air flowing from one side and water entering the domain from a pore at the bottom wall of the channel. The channel dimensions, flow conditions and surface properties are chosen to be representative of typical conditions in a PEMFC. A series of parametric studies, including the effects of channel size, pore size, and the coalescence of droplets are performed with a particular focus on the effect of geometrical structure. The simulation results and analysis of the time evolution of flow patterns show that the height of the channel as well as the width of the pore have significant impacts on the deformation and detachment of the water droplet. Simulations performed for droplets emerging from two pores with the same size into the channel show that coalescence of two water droplets can accelerate the deformation rate and motion of the droplets in the microchannel. Accounting for the initial connection of a droplet to a pore was found to yield critical air inlet velocities for droplet detachment that are significantly different from previous studies that considered an initially stagnant droplet sitting on the surface. The predicted critical air velocity is found to be sensitive to the geometry of the pore, with higher values obtained when the curvature associated with the GDL fibres is taken into account. The critical velocity is also found to decrease with increasing droplet size and decreasing GDL pore diameter.     

Effect of GDL compression on pressure drop and pressure distribution in PEMFC flow field

Improving reactant distribution is an important technological challenge in the design of a PEMFC. Flow field and the Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) distribute the reactant over the catalyst area in a cell. Hence it is necessary to consider flow field and GDL together to improve their combined effectiveness. This paper describes a simple and unique off-cell experimental setup developed to determine pressure as a function of position in the active area, due to reactant flow in a fuel cell flow field. By virtue of the experimental setup being off-cell, reactant consumption, heat production, and water generation, are not accounted as experienced in a real fuel cell. A parallel channel flow field and a single serpentine flow field have been tested as flow distributors in the experimental setup developed. In addition, the interaction of gas diffusion layer with the flow distributor has also been studied. The gas diffusion layer was compressed to two different thicknesses and the impact of GDL compression on overall pressure drop and pressure distribution over the active area was obtained using the developed experimental setup. The results indicate that interaction of GDL with the flow field and the effect of GDL compression on overall pressure drop and pressure distribution is more significant for a serpentine flow field relative to a parallel channel flow field.     

Numerical simulation of liquid water emerging and transport in the flow channel of PEMFC using the volume of fluid method

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of liquid water emerging from the gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface to the gas flow channel in the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell (PEMFC) is carried out using the volume of fluid (VOF) method. The effects of the water velocity in the GDL hole, the airflow velocity and the wettability of the channel surfaces on the water emerging process and transport in the flow channel are investigated. It is found that at low water velocity, the water detaches from the water hole, forming discrete water droplets on the GDL surface, and is transported downstream on the GDL surface until removed from the GDL surface by the U-turn part of the flow channel; whereas at high water velocity, the continuous water column impinges the hydrophilic channel surface counter to the GDL surface, being directly removed from the GDL surface. The airflow velocity affects water detachment and impact process in the channel corner, and water droplet breakup is observed under high airflow velocity. The channel surface wettability influences water droplet shape and its transport in the channel. Rather than forming corner water films at the U-turn for hydrophilic channel surface, water maintains the droplet shape and smoothly passes through the U-turn for hydrophobic channel surface. The importance of the U-turn to the water removal is also discussed. The U-turn promotes water removal from the GDL surface at low water velocity and water breakup at high airflow velocity.     

Heat transfer in a PEMFC flow channel

A numerical method was applied to the heat transfer performance in the flow channel for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) using the finite element method (FEM). The heat transfer enhancement has been analyzed by transversely installing a baffle plate and a rectangular cylinder to manage flow pattern in the flow channel of the fuel cell. Case studies include baffle plates (gap ratios from 00.05 to 0.2) and the rectangular cylinder (width-to-height ratios from 0.66 to 1.66 with a constant gap ratio of 0.2; various gap ratios from 0.05 to 0.3 with a constant width-to-height ratio 1.0) at constant Reynolds number. The results show that the transverse installation of a baffle plate and a rectangular cylinder in the flow channel can effectively enhance the local heat transfer performance of a PEMFC. The installation of a rectangular cylinder has a better effective heat transfer performance than a baffle plate; the larger the width of the cylinder is the better effective heat transfer performance becomes.     

气体扩散层厚度对PEMFC性能的影响

质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)的气体扩散层(GDL)厚度对燃料电池的输出性能有重要影响。文章利用多物理场直接耦合分析软件(COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0),在电池温度为70℃的条件下,对4种不同厚度的GDL进行模拟分析,并在相同的操作条件下,得到了4组极化曲线、阴极氧气浓度、阴极水浓度、阳极氢气浓度以及电流密度的变化趋势图。对比分析4组变化趋势图后发现:GDL的厚度越小,燃料电池的性能越好;GDL的厚度对阳极氢气的浓度分布影响不大;当GDL的厚度增大时,产生的液态水会堵塞GDL的孔隙,降低GDL的孔隙率。     

Three-dimensional modeling of water transport in PEMFC

A three dimensional two phase flow model is proposed to study transport phenomena in a PEMFC. In order to capture the effects of liquid water on the performance of the fuel cell, all regions are modeled from the anode to the cathode as having finite thickness. The geometry of the bipolar plate is modeled in detail to capture the effect of liquid water accumulation under the channel rib. This model takes into account the effect of temperature and inlet RH of both the anode and cathode. The three-dimensional model uses the finite volume method to solve the equations of mass conservation, momentum, energy, species transfer and protonic potential. These equations include the effect of liquid water on the transport properties as well as the electrochemical source. The effects of water on ohmic losses are presented for different humidity conditions of the anode and cathode at various fuel cell temperatures.     

Effects of microstructure shape parameters on water removal in a PEMFC lotus-like flow channel

To improve the drag reduction performances of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), a three dimensional numerical investigation about the water removal in a lotus-like PEMFC flow channel is carried out. The effects of the microstructure shape parameters (height, radius and spacing) are investigated. The investigation revealed that the liquid water can be effectively removed by the lotus-like flow channel from the channel wall surface. The appropriate height of lotus-like channel can effectively reduce the water coverage ratio on the top wall of the lotus-like flow channel. As height increases, the average drag reduction ratio increases firstly and decreases finally. When the radiuses are 25 μm and 50 μm, the average drag reduction ratios of these cases are higher than those of the other cases obviously. The spacing of the lotus-like channel has a few effects on the water removal and water coverage ratio. The lotus-like flow channel with the height of 50 μm, the radius of 50 μm and the spacing of 150 μm has a high drag reduction and anti-corrosion performance. The work in this study provides a new choice for the flow channel and has certain guiding significance for the design of the flow channel for anti-corrosion and drag reduction.     

Effects of needle orientation and gas velocity on water transport and removal in a modified PEMFC gas flow channel having a hydrophilic needle

Water management is critical to the performance and operation of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Effective water removal from the gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface exposed to the gas flow channel in PEMFC mitigates the water flooding of and improves the reactants transport into the GDL, hence benefiting the PEMFC performance. In this study, a 3D numerical investigation of water removal from the GDL surface in a modified PEMFC gas flow channel having a hydrophilic needle is carried out. The effects of the needle orientation (inclination angle) and gas velocity on the water transport and removal are investigated. The results show that the water is removed from the GDL surface in the channel for a large range of the needle inclination angle and gas velocity. The water is removed more effectively, and the pressure drop for the flow in the channel is smaller for a smaller needle inclination angle. It is also found that the modified channel is more effective and viable for water removal in fuel cells operated at smaller gas velocity.     

The effect of through plane pore gradient GDL on the water distribution of PEMFC

The effect of through plane pore gradient of gas diffusion layer (GDL) on the performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell is investigated experimentally. The performance with GDLs having no, medium and high pore gradient are compared at 2 different relative humidity (RH) conditions. The medium pore gradient GDL shows generally the best performance in both RH conditions. The performance difference is analyzed based on the water distribution. The water distribution is measured through the X-ray visualization. The amount of water is reduced with the pore gradient GDL. This change reduces the concentration over-potential, and thereby increases the performance at high RH condition. However, the reduction of liquid water results in dehydration of the membrane at low RH condition. This makes lower performance with high pore gradient. The highest performance is not matched with the highest pore gradient. The effect of pore gradient is distinct when water exists sufficiently.