Abstract
In general, a passive air cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) operates under an excessive amount of air flow and low humidification conditions, indicating effective control of stack temperature and membrane hydration is of paramount importance for achieving high and stable performance. In this study, we numerically investigate the effects of cathode bipolar plate flowfield design on temperature and water distributions inside a passive air cooled PEMFC. The three-dimensional (3D) non-isothermal PEMFC model is applied to various PEMFC geometries where three different flowfield designs with different ratio and dimensions of air supply channel and cooling channels are taken into account. Simulation results show that the flowfield design with narrow air supply channel and/or wide cooling channel exhibits superior water management performance whereas the effect of oyxgen depletion is minimal due to sufficiently a large amount of air supply conditions. This study clearly demonstrates that the membrane dehydration issue in a passive type air cooled PEMFC can be mitigated by proper design of cathode flowfield.
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