Abstract
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells have benefits over heat engines and batteries as an energy system for transportation, stationary power, and portable electronics. Before fuel cells can replace current energy systems, their manufacturing cost to performance ratio must be improved. The bipolar plate is a fuel cell component that contributes significantly to fuel cell manufacturing costs and is a key driver of performance. Metallic bipolar plates, with characteristic flow dimensions below the standard 1 mm, were fabricated using direct machining. Hydrogen/air fuel cells constructed of these plates were tested to ensure performance gains, using interdigitated flow operation and automobile-representative channel lengths. Finite Element Modelling (FEM) was used to investigate the manufacture of bipolar plates using low cost sheet metal stamping. Multiple bipolar plate alloys were compared based on their stampability, and die design parameters needed to stamp submillimeter channels were determined. Springback analysis was performed, and the effect of springback on fuel cell stack stresses was investigated.
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