A transient Pseudo-3D model of the PEM fuel cell for the analysis of dead-ended anode and anode bleeding operation modes

Abstract

The high energy density of hydrogen is very advantageous for automotive applications, however the high cost and low durability of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells limit their commercial use. The anode-bleeding operation mode offers a very high hydrogen utilization and cost reduction by eliminating the components necessary for the recovery of hydrogen in the flow-through mode and avoids the carbon corrosion reaction, which causes degradation of the catalyst layer when the bleeding rate is set to zero in the dead-ended mode. A two-phase, non-isothermal, transient and pseudo-three-dimensional model is developed here to study the cell performance and carbon corrosion during dead-ended and anode bleeding operation modes. The model is validated against the experimental data from the literature and used to investigate the effects of the geometric and operation parameters on the voltage transient during dead-ended anode (DEA) operation mode. Results demonstrate that a lower load-current density, higher anode pressure, lower relative humidity at the cathode inlet, higher stoichiometric flow in the cathode, higher cell temperature, and shorter, deeper and wider channels can improve the cell performance under the DEA operation. The bleeding rate is optimized to sustain a stable transient cell voltage without carbon corrosion in the cathode catalyst layer while the hydrogen utilization is more than 99%.