Numerical simulation for the effect of vaporization intensity in membrane on the performance of PEM fuel cell

The heat and mass transfer characters of proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell have major impact on the performance of cell system, and suitable moisture content in the membrane is one of the most important enhancing factors of PEM fuel cell systems. In this article, the effect to different vaporization mechanism of water in the membrane is investigated numerically, the results show that the temperature of the fuel cell increases with lessens of the heat transfer coefficient, and the average temperature located in membrane is reduced most significantly by 18.03% compared to no vaporization condition in membrane for cases in which heat transfer coefficient is 50?W/m²?·?K. Furthermore, the current density with evaporation in membrane is much lower than take no account of vaporization, especially on the cathode side; meanwhile, the excess percentage of oxygen and water vapor concentration is more significantly different from the condition without vaporization when the fuel cell temperature reaches the boiling point.