Numerical simulation for metal foam two-phase flow field of proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Metal foam (MF) flow field has been the potential reactant gas distributor to improve the water management, gas reactant transport and enhance the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) owing to its unique porous structure. In this study, the full morphology of MF flow field is reconstructed by geometry representation method, and a two-phase volume of fluid (VOF) model is employed to investigate the gas transport and liquid water dynamics in the MF flow field. The present model is validated with the previous experimental and theoretical studies. The single-phase and two-phase flow behaviors in MF flow field and conventional parallel channel are discussed and compared. The results show that a more uniform and convective-to-electrode gas flow can be obtained in MF flow field. Although the water hold-up phenomenon, i.e., water droplets trapped in pores, is observed and slows down the water transport in MF flow field, the porous structures with favorable connectivity and numerous gas pathways still reduce the “water flooding” in the flow field. In addition, hydrophobic walls (or ligaments) are proved necessary for the water management of a MF flow field.     

Novel serpentine-baffle flow field design for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

An appropriate flow field in the bipolar plates of a fuel cell can effectively enhance the reactant transport rates and liquid water removal efficiency, improving cell performance. This paper proposes a novel serpentine-baffle flow field (SBFF) design to improve the cell performance compared to that for a conventional serpentine flow field (SFF). A three-dimensional model is used to analyze the reactant and product transport and the electrochemical reactions in the cell. The results show that at high operating voltages, the conventional design and the baffled design have the same performance, because the electrochemical rate is low and only a small amount of oxygen is consumed, so the oxygen transport rates for both designs are sufficient to maintain the reaction rates. However, at low operating voltages, the baffled design shows better performance than the conventional design. Analyses of the local transport phenomena in the cell indicate that the baffled design induces larger pressure differences between adjacent flow channels over the entire electrode surface than does the conventional design, enhancing under-rib convection through the electrode porous layer. The under-rib convection increases the mass transport rates of the reactants and products to and from the catalyst layer and reduces the amount of liquid water trapped in the porous electrode. The baffled design increases the limiting current density and improves the cell performance relative to conventional design.     

Contamination assessment in metal foam flow field-based proton exchange membrane fuel cell

The relative slippage between the open-cell metal foam flow fields and other parts in a fuel cell due to vehicular and flow-induced vibrations causes fretting. The material degradation due to fretting in nickel struts contaminate the stack and is investigated using simulated experiments. The as-formed strut surfaces are rough and increases the material loss during fretting. The total wear volume associated with a single contact in 22,000 cycles is 4.66 E?04 mm³. The contamination in the stack is estimated assuming a dodecahedron unit cell geometry and neglecting the fretting corrosion. About 47 g of debris is expected to be generated when an 8 ppi nickel foam flow fields used in a 50-cell stack for 8700 hours of operation. In addition, the generated flake shaped debris (<10 μm) can obstruct the flow of gases by clogging the gas diffusion layer. The proposed contamination estimation methodology will aid in performance prediction during service.     

Achieving breakthrough performance caused by optimized metal foam flow field in fuel cells

Enhanced mass transport in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is required for achieving high performance because concentration losses dominate cell performance. In particular, the flow field is crucial for mass transport. Recently, metal foam has been proposed as an alternative flow field owing to its three-dimensional pores, high porosity, and enhanced electrical conductivity. Here, we inspect the microstructure of various copper foams and investigate its effect as a flow field on PEMFCs. The PEMFCs with the optimized foam flow field deliver the highest performance reported to date. A large contact area and small ribs of the optimized foam flow field are advantageous for mass transfer and ohmic resistance. In addition, the internally generated pressure increases the partial pressure of the reactant, which leads to increased performance. This foam flow field has a significant potential for achieving high cell performance by enhancing the electrochemical reaction of the catalyst.     

Graphene as corrosion protection for metal foam flow distributor in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

In this study, graphene was grown on nickel foam by chemical vapor deposition method. The morphology and crystallization of graphene films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Graphene-coated nickel foams have been used as flow distributor in a single PEM fuel cell, and the current density of the cell reached 1000 mA/cm² at 0.6 V. Tafel analysis indicates that graphene-coated samples showed greatly lower corrosion current density (nine times) than the uncoated ones. The contact angle was 35% larger than uncoated sample. These results clearly show that graphene-coated metal foams significantly enhances electrical conductivity and hydrophobicity.     

Parallel serpentine-baffle flow field design for water management in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

In a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) water management is one of the critical issues to be addressed. Although the membrane requires humidification for high proton conductivity, water in excess decreases the cell performance by flooding. In this paper an improved strategy for water management in a fuel cell operating with low water content is proposed using a parallel serpentine-baffle flow field plate (PSBFFP) design compared to the parallel serpentine flow field plate (PSFFP). The water management in a fuel cell is closely connected to the temperature control in the fuel cell and gases humidifier. The PSBFFP and the PSFFP were evaluated comparatively under three different humidity conditions and their influence on the PEMFC prototype performance was monitored by determining the current density–voltage and current density–power curves. Under low humidification conditions the PEMFC prototype presented better performance when fitted with the PSBFFP since it retains water in the flow field channels.     

Predicting current density distribution of proton exchange membrane fuel cells with different flow field designs

In a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), flow field design is an important factor that influences the distributions of current density and water accumulation. The segmented model developed in prior study is used to investigate the effect of flow field patterns on current density distribution. This model predicts the distributed characteristics of water content in the membrane, relative humidity in the flow channels, and water accumulation in the gas diffusion layers (GDLs).Three single cells with different flow field patterns are designed and fabricated. These three flow field designs are simulated using the segmented model and the predicted results are compared and validated by experimental data. This segmented model can be used to predict the effect of flow field patterns on water and current distributions before they are machined.     

Evaluation of flow field design effects on proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance

Fluid distribution, conduction, and heat control are important phenomenon in the fuel cell fraternity, therefore it is crucial to develop a state-of-the-art bipolar plate (BP) to attain optimum cell performance. Metal foam (MF) and fine mesh have attracted a lot of attention in mitigating some of the challenges associated with straight, and serpentine channels. In this study, MF, 3D fine mesh, fine wire mesh (FWM) flow fields are compared with triple serpentine flow field to develop an optimum design for improved PEMFC performance. Two different foam designs are studied to attenuate the existing drawback associated with MF, mainly caused by high water retention. The 3D fine mesh is leading in performance under anodic and cathodic stoichiometry of 1 and 3 respectively. On increasing the anodic and cathodic stoichiometry to 1.2 and 3.5 respectively, the FWM took the lead. This is brought by the improved water drainage under high stoichiometry. Because FWM is already in mass production, although for other purposes, it is cost competitive over the other designs. The fine mesh and the MF have the potential to break down large water droplet making them easy to drain. They also showed symmetric fluid flow, compared to the serpentine design.     

Performance improvement of proton exchange membrane fuel cell by using annular shaped geometry

A complete three-dimensional and single phase CFD model for a different geometry of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is used to investigate the effect of using different connections between bipolar plate and gas diffusion layer on the performances, current density and gas concentration. The proposed model is a full cell model, which includes all the parts of the PEM fuel cell, flow channels, gas diffusion electrodes, catalyst layers and the membrane. Coupled transport and electrochemical kinetics equations are solved in a single domain; therefore no interfacial boundary condition is required at the internal boundaries between cell components.This computational fluid dynamics code is used as the direct problem solver, which is used to simulate the three-dimensional mass, momentum and species transport phenomena as well as the electron- and proton-transfer process taking place in a PEMFC that cannot be investigated experimentally. The results show that the predicted polarization curves by using this model are in good agreement with the experimental results. Also the results show that by increasing the number of connection between GDL and bipolar plate the performance of the fuel cell enhances.     

Comparison of current distributions in proton exchange membrane fuel cells with interdigitated and serpentine flow fields

Current distributions in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with interdigitated and serpentine flow fields under various operating conditions are measured and compared. The measurement results show that current distributions in PEMFC with interdigitated flow fields are more uniform than those observed in PEMFC with serpentine flow fields at low reactant gas flow rates. Current distributions in PEMFC with interdigitated flow fields are rather uniform under any operating conditions, even with very low gas flow rates, dry gas feeding or over-humidification of reactant gases. Measurement results also show that current distributions for both interdigitated and serpentine flow fields are significantly affected by reactant gas humidification, but their characteristics are different under various humidification conditions, and the results show that interdigitated flow fields have stronger water removal capability than serpentine flow fields. The optimum reactant gas humidification temperature for interdigitated flow fields is higher than that for serpentine flow fields. The performance for interdigitated flow fields is better with over-humidification of reactant gases but it is lower when air is dry or insufficiently humidified than that for serpentine flow fields.     

Transient characteristics of proton exchange membrane fuel cells with different flow field designs

This work establishes three-dimensional transient numerical models of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with different cathode flow field designs. Exactly how flow field design and voltage loading affect the transient characteristics of the PEMFCs are examined. When the operating voltage instantaneously drops from 0.7 V to 0.5 V, the electrochemical reactions increase. To ensure sufficient oxygen supply for the fuel cell, the oxygen mass fractions are high in the cathode gas diffusion and cathode catalyst layers, causing overshoot of the local current density distribution. When the operating voltage suddenly increases from 0.5 V to 0.7 V, the electrochemical reactions become mild, and furthermore the oxygen mass fraction distribution becomes low, leading to undershoot of the local current density distribution. The transient response time required to reach the steady state for the parallel flow field with baffle design is longest in the event of overshoot or undershoot among the different cathode flow field designs. The overshoot or undershoot phenomena become more obvious with larger voltage loading variations. Moreover, the transient response time for the Z-type flow field with baffle design is longer than for the Z-type flow field design.     

Three-dimensional simulation of solid oxide fuel cell with metal foam as cathode flow distributor

In this study, the use of metal foam as a flow distributor at cathode is evaluated numerically by a comprehensive three-dimensional solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) model. The results show that the adoption of metal foam improves the power density by 13.74% at current density of 5000 A m⁻² in comparison with conventional straight channel design. It is found that electronic overpotential, oxygen concentration and reaction rates distribute more uniformly without the restriction of ribs. The effects of cathode thickness on the two different flow distributors are compared. Compared with conventional straight channel, the metal foam is found to be more suitable as a distributor for anode supported SOFC with thin cathode gas diffusion layer. Moreover, when metal foam is applied to the fuel cell with a larger reaction area, a more uniform velocity distribution and a lower temperature distribution can be achieved. It is also found that an appropriate permeability coefficient should offer a reasonable pressure drop, which is beneficial for the fuel cell system performance improvement.     

Analysis of thermal balance in high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells with short stacks via in situ monitoring with a flexible micro sensor

The heat produced from the electrochemical reaction in a fuel cell is worth studying, the heat recycled make the fuel cell more efficiency, especially in a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HTPEMFC). In low temperature PEMFC system, the heat is removed by cooling system avoid the membrane degradation exceed 100 °C. But in HTPEMFC system, the membrane can afford higher temperature (T_g 420 °C), means the cooling system could be removing and through changing the inside flow field to uniform the unit cell temperature in stack. In this study, a 50–100 W HTPEMFC stack is demonstrated and a micro sensor was integrated with the HTPEMFC stack for in situ measurements during the experiments. The results show that when the stack is operated at low and high current loads, the heat generation from the fuel cell causes noticeable changes in the cell temperature, especially in the middle of the stack. In the middle cell of the stack, the temperature exceeds the operating temperature (160 °C) by 10–30 °C when the current increases. Moreover, changing the flow field to counter-flow or co-flow with U- or Z-type flow fields causes changes to the thermal balance in the stack. The performance, however, remains almost the same for each type of flow field when there is no water affecting the HTPEMFC, even though the change in thermal balance in the stack still occurs. The results of the micro sensor in situ monitoring for each type of flow field displayed higher temperatures on the middle cells. If the waste heat is appropriately used, the high-temperature fuel cell will then be more efficient than the low-temperature fuel cell. The results also show that, in the HTPEMFC stack, the heat generated from the fuel cell can be reused in other ways.     

Flow distribution in parallel-channel plate for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Parallel channel flow field with manifold openings is widely used in Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) because of its low-pressure drop and easiness of manufacture. This research presents a hydrodynamic model to describe the airflow distribution, and the predicted pressure differences are validated by experiments. We also investigate the influences of the flow rate, the geometry of header and the length ratio of manifold opening to header region on the airflow distribution. Therefore, the optimal strategy is proposed based on an overall consideration of uniformity and configuration in the fuel-cell plate for application.     

The conception of in-plate adverse-flow flow field for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

To improve species concentration and current density distribution uniformity of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, an in-plate adverse-flow (IPAF) flow field is developed. Its utility is conceptually examined through three-dimensional numerical simulation comparison between three typical fuel and air flow combinations out of those it can support. Under isothermal condition and constant velocity reactant feeding mode, as the simulation results indicate, there is no significant cell performance improvement by the new flow filed unless in mass transport limited region, while the species concentration and current density distribution uniformities are substantially improved. As data analysis supports, there are two mechanisms in the new flow field that are responsible for the distribution uniformity improvement: the along-channel offset effect and the across-rib transport effect, and their respective pure contributions to the improvement are well discerned.     

A numerical study of flow crossover between adjacent flow channels in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with serpentine flow field

The focus of this paper is to study the flow crossover between two adjacent flow channels in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell with serpentine flow field design in bipolar plates. The effect of gas diffusion layer (GDL) deformation on the flow crossover due to the compression in a fuel cell assembly process is particularly investigated. A three-dimensional structural mechanics model is created to study the GDL deformation under the assembly compression. A three-dimensional PEM fuel cell numerical model is developed in the aforementioned deformed domain to study the flow crossover between the adjacent channels in the presence of the GDL intrusion. The models are solved in COMSOL Multiphysics—a finite element-based commercial software package. The pressure, velocity, oxygen mass fraction and local current density distribution are presented. A parametric study is conducted to quantitatively investigate the effect of the GDL’s transport related parameters such as porosity and permeability on the flow crossover between the adjacent flow channels. The polarization curves are also examined with and without the assembly compression considered. It is found that the compression effect is evident in the high current density region. Without considering the assembly compression, the fuel cell model tends to over-predict the fuel cell’s performance. The proposed method to simulate the crossover with the deformed computational domain is more accurate in predicting the overall performance.     

Performance and stability of Pd-Pt-Ni nanoalloy electrocatalysts in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Pd-Pt-Ni nanoalloy catalysts have been synthesized by a polyol reduction method and characterized for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The performance of the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) fabricated with the Pd-Pt-Ni catalysts is found to increase continuously in the entire current density range with the operation time in the PEMFC until it becomes comparable to that of commercial Pt. The Pt-based mass activity of Pd-Pt-Ni exceeds that of commercial Pt by a factor of 2, and its long-term durability is comparable to that of commercial Pt within the 200 h of operation. Compositional characterizations by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) suggest a dealloyed active catalyst phase consisting of Pd-rich core and Pt-rich shell, formed by dissolution of Pd and Ni under the testing conditions. The surface catalytic activity of nanoparticles can be modified by the strain effect caused by lattice mismatch between the surface and core components. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation of the MEA cross-section reveals that the Pd ions move into the Nafion membrane and even to the anode side and redeposit on reduction by hydrogen crossover. The deposition of Pd-rich PdPt particles mainly forms a band at the center of the membrane and along the cathode/membrane interface. On the other hand, the Ni ions ion-exchange with the protons in the Nafion membrane.     

Different flow fields,operation modes and designs for proton exchange membrane fuel cells with dead-ended anode

Water and nitrogen can accumulate in the anode channel in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with dead-ended anode (DEA) and can affect cell performance significantly. In this paper, the cell performance characteristics in DEA PEMFCs with three different anode flow fields under two operating modes are studied through measuring the cell voltages and local current densities. The effect of the anode exit reservoir is also studied for the three different anode flow fields. The experimental results show that the interdigitated flow field has the most stable cell performance under both constant pressure and pressure swing supply modes. Parallel and serpentine flow fields lead to very non-uniform local current distributions under constant pressure supply mode and experience severe fluctuations and spikes in local current densities under pressure swing supply mode. The results also show that anode pressure swing supply mode can achieve more stable cell performance than anode constant pressure supply mode for parallel and serpentine anode flow fields. The anode exit reservoir can significantly improve cell performance stability for parallel and serpentine flow fields, but has no significant effect on interdigitated flow fields. Besides, the results further show that PEMFCs with DEA can maintain very stable operation with anode serpentine flow field and an anode exit reservoir under pressure swing operation.     

Effects of assembling method and force on the performance of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells with metal foam flow field

Recently, highly porous metal foams have been used to replace the traditional open-flow channels to improve gas transport and distribution in the cells. Deformation of flow plate, gas diffusion layer (GDL), and metal foam may occur during assembling. When the cell size is small, the deformation may not be significant. For large area cells, the deformation may become significant to affect the cell performance. In this study, an assembling device that is capable of applying uniform clamping force is built to facilitate fuel cell assembling and alleviate the deformation. A compressing plate that is the same size of the active area is used to apply uniform clamping force before surrounding bolts are fastened. Therefore, bending of the flow plate and deformation of GDL and metal foam can be minimized. Effects of the clamping force on the microstructures of GDL and metal foam, various resistances, pressure drops, and cell performance are investigated. Distribution of the contact pressure between metal foam and GDL is measured by using pressure sensitive films. Field-emission scanning electron microscope is used to observe the microstructures. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis is used measure resistances. The fuel cell performance is measured by using a fuel cell test system. For the cell design used in this study, the optimum clamping force is found to be 200 kgf. Using this optimum clamping force, the cell performance can be enhanced by 50%, as compared with that of the cell assembled without using clamping plates. With appropriate clamping force, the compression force distribution across the entire cell area can approach uniform. This enables uniform flow distribution and reduces mass transfer resistance. Good contact between GDL and metal foam also lowers the interface resistance. All these factors contribute to the enhanced cell performance.