Optimal temperature for DMFC stack operation

We report a model of heat transport in a fragment of DMFC stack consisting of a bipolar plate with the linear anode channel. The model takes into account fragment heating due to reactions and cooling by the flow in the anode channel and by water evaporation. The resulting system of equations is solved using asymptotic technique. The solution yields optimal inlet temperature of the anode flow, which provides uniform distribution of stack temperature. Physically, in this regime stack and flow temperatures are equal and local rate of stack heating is exactly compensated for by the local rate of cooling due to evaporation.