Flow field simulation and pressure drop modeling by a porous medium in PEM fuel cells

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei‐Hsin Chen ◽  
Zong‐Lin Tsai ◽  
Min‐Hsing Chang ◽  
Tzu‐Hsuan Hsu ◽  
Pei‐Chi Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Porous Medium ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Flow Field Simulation ◽  
Field Simulation

Analytical and numerical study on cooling flow field designs performance of PEM fuel cell with variable heat flux

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (16) ◽  
pp. 1650155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebrahim Afshari ◽  
Masoud Ziaei-Rad ◽  
Nabi Jahantigh
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Coolant Flow ◽  
Temperature Uniformity ◽  
Variable Heat ◽  
Variable Heat Flux

In PEM fuel cells, during electrochemical generation of electricity more than half of the chemical energy of hydrogen is converted to heat. This heat of reactions, if not exhausted properly, would impair the performance and durability of the cell. In general, large scale PEM fuel cells are cooled by liquid water that circulates through coolant flow channels formed in bipolar plates or in dedicated cooling plates. In this paper, a numerical method has been presented to study cooling and temperature distribution of a polymer membrane fuel cell stack. The heat flux on the cooling plate is variable. A three-dimensional model of fluid flow and heat transfer in cooling plates with 15 cm × 15 cm square area is considered and the performances of four different coolant flow field designs, parallel field and serpentine fields are compared in terms of maximum surface temperature, temperature uniformity and pressure drop characteristics. By comparing the results in two cases, the constant and variable heat flux, it is observed that applying constant heat flux instead of variable heat flux which is actually occurring in the fuel cells is not an accurate assumption. The numerical results indicated that the straight flow field model has temperature uniformity index and almost the same temperature difference with the serpentine models, while its pressure drop is less than all of the serpentine models. Another important advantage of this model is the much easier design and building than the spiral models.

scholarly journals Flow field simulation of the spiral-wound heat exchanger

2018 ◽  
Vol 1064 ◽  
pp. 012003
Author(s):  
Guanghui Chen ◽  
Jie Bao ◽  
Shu Guo ◽  
Jianlong Li
Keyword(s):  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Flow Field Simulation ◽  
Field Simulation ◽  
Spiral Wound
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