scholarly journals Direct Simulation of Liquid Water Dynamics in the Gas Channel of a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

2012 ◽  
Vol 159 (4) ◽  
pp. B434-B443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaozhong Qin ◽  
Dirk Rensink ◽  
S. Majid Hassanizadeh ◽  
Stephan Fell
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Water Dynamics ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell ◽  
Direct Simulation ◽  
Gas Channel

Effects of Wettability and Flow Direction of Cathode Channel on Plugging Phenomenon in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryo Taniguchi ◽  
Kosuke Nishida ◽  
Hisashi Kamada ◽  
Shohji Tsushima ◽  
Shuichiro Hirai
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
High Speed ◽  
High Current Density ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Differential Pressure ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell ◽  
Horizontal Flow ◽  
Gas Channel

Water management in cathode channel of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) is essential for achieving high current density operation, because excessive liquid water generated at cathode clogs gas channel and disturbs air flow. This phenomenon known as “channel plugging” is one of the critical issues for high-performance PEFC. In this study, the liquid water behavior in the cathode flow channel of an operating PEFC was directly visualized through the transparent separator using a high-speed camera. Furthermore, the differential pressure between the inlet and outlet of the cathode channel was quantitatively measured to predict the liquid water accumulation, and the effects of wettability (hydrophilic or hydrophobic) and flow direction (vertical or horizontal) of the cathode channel on the plugging phenomena were investigated. It was found that the hydrophobic treatment of the cathode channel is effective in draining liquid water smoothly and reduces the averaged differential pressure. The fluctuation of the differential pressure tends to be large due to the sufficient water removal. On the other hand, in the case of hydrophilic treatment, much water attaches to the channel wall and remains inside the gas channel. In addition, the liquid water transport within the cathode channel is largely affected by the flow direction. The averaged differential pressure in the horizontal flow is much lower than that in the vertical flow. The horizontal flow has the advantage of discharging much water to the outside of the cell because the gravity effect can be neglected.

Influence of Cell Components Structure on Coupling Phenomena in Single Cell of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Nishimura ◽  
Atsushi Morimoto ◽  
Shigeki Tanaka ◽  
Atsushi Oshima ◽  
Masafumi Hirota ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Gas Channel ◽  
Observation Area ◽  
Cell Components

The purpose of this study is to point out the dominant factor of heat and mass distribution in single cell of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). The numerical simulation by simple 3D model of PEFC has been investigated to clarify the influence of cell components structure on heat and mass transfer phenomena in PEFC. In addition, the power generation experiment and the measurement of in-plane temperature distribution by thermograph were carried out. From the simulation results, the gas channel pitch of separator was the key factor to unify in-plane distribution of temperature and gas concentration on the reaction surface. The compression of gas diffusion layer (GDL) by cell binding caused wider distribution of mass concentration in GDL. According to the experimental results, the power generation performance was promoted with the decrease in gas channel pitch irrespective of relative humidity of supply gas. In addition, the temperature range in observation area was lower with the decrease in gas channel pitch.

Effect of Operating Temperature on the Water Removal in a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanyuan Shi ◽  
Nobuyuki Oshima ◽  
L. Kumar Saha ◽  
Eru Kurihara
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
Operating Temperature ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell ◽  
Water Removal ◽  
Operation Temperature ◽  
Increasing Temperature

In order to investigate the effect of operation temperature on the liquid water removal in the polymer electrolyte fuel cell, a one-dimensional steady state mathematical model was developed for the cathode gas diffusion layer (GDL). Numerical results indicate that liquid water saturation significantly increases with increases in the operating temperature of the fuel cell because the capillary pressure in the hydrophobic GDL decreases with increasing temperature. An elevated operating temperature has an undesirable influence on the removal of liquid water inside the GDL. A reported peculiar phenomenon in which the flooding of the fuel cell under a high operating temperature and an over-saturated environment is more serious in a GDL combined with a micro-porous layer (MPL) than in a GDL without an MPL (Lim and Wang, Electrochimica Acta, 49, pp. 4149–4156, 2004) is explained based on the present analysis.

Dynamic Characteristics of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Tank

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Dynamic Characteristics ◽  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Reaction Rates ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
Water Dynamics ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Electrochemical Double Layer

In this paper, we develop 3D dynamic models for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) and hydrogen tanks, respectively. The PEFC model considers the key components of a single PEFC and couples the various mechanisms that govern fuel cell transient including the electrochemical double-layer behavior, species transport, heat transfer, liquid water dynamics, and membrane water uptake. The hydrogen tank model includes a 3D description of the hydrogen discharging kinetics coupled with mass/heat transport in a LaNi5–based hydrogen tank. Efforts are made to discuss the dynamic characteristics of the PEFC and hydrogen tank together with the possible coupling of the two systems. Local electrochemical and hydride reaction rates, transport processes and associated limiting factors are investigated.

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