A Novel Design of Wave‐Like PEMFC Stack with Undulate MEAs and Perforated Bipolar Plates

Abstract

AbstractCommercialisation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology depends on high volumetric power density and specific power for a given cost. In the present study, a novel wave‐like architecture for PEMFC stack based on undulate membrane electrode assembles (MEAs) and perforated bipolar plates (PBPs) was presented. Different from conventional plate‐and‐frame architecture, this design increased active area and achieved higher volumetric power density due to undulate MEAs. Moreover, perforated sheet metal was used as bipolar plates so that it could improve specific power.A single cell was designed and fabricated in house to evaluate the performance of the novel architecture stack. Stamped PBPs with open rate of 28.26% and hot pressed 5‐layer undulate MEAs with Nafion® 112 were adopted. The results indicated that the peak volumetric power density and specific power are 2,715.94 W L–1 and 2,157.86 W kg–1, respectively, while they are 2,151.28 W L–1 and 1,709.22 W kg–1 at the output voltage of 0.6 V. This study may propose a possible means to meet the DOE's 2010 technical target that volumetric power density is 2,000 W L–1 and specific power is 2,000 W kg–1 for stack.