Abstract
The PEM Fuel Cell (PEMFC) performance depends on the operating parameters like temperature, pressure, stoichiometric ratio of reactants, relative humidity, back pressure on anode and cathode flow channels, and the design parameters like rib width to channel width (L:C), channel depth, shape of the flow channel and number of pass on the flow channel. The voltage and power produced by single cell was not enough for practical applications, hence number of cells are connected in series or parallel to generate required current and voltage to form a fuel cell stack. The effective performance of fuel cell stack depends upon the satisfactory operation of individual cells. For effective thermal management, water management and distribution of reactants (H2 and o2) is challengeable task in fuel cell stack. The design of bipolar plate is contributing more in PEM fuel cell stack to meet the above said critical parameters. In this paper numerical investigation of 500w PEM fuel cell stack with each cell of 100 cm2 active area with rib to channel width (L:C-2:2) of single pass, three pass and six pass parallel serpentine flow channel with square channel inlet and outlet were carried out. The three dimensional PEMFC stack with various passes (1,3,6) for serpentine flow channel were modeled by pro-e, meshed by ICEM 14.0 software packages and simulated using CFD Fluent 14.0 under various operating pressure range from 1 bar to 2 bar and flow rate of hydrogen and oxygen as 500ml/min and 250ml/min respectively. The numerical modeling results on performance of PEMFC stack has been studied and compared and the better flow channel design was identified.
Highlights
The Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell are a promising candidate has zero-emission power source for transport and stationary cogeneration applications due to its very high efficiency, lowtemperature operation, high power density, fast startup, and system robustness
For a given Membrane/Electrode Assembly (MEA), the power density of a fuel cell stack can be significantly increased by reducing the profile of the bipolar plates Water flooding will make the PEM fuel cell performance unpredictable and unreliable under the nominally identical operating conditions
This paper addresses the pressure distribution in PEM fuel cell stack for serpentine flow channel of 500w PEM Fuel Cell (PEMFC) stack with single pass, three pass and six pass flow channels and influence of their performance
Summary
The Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell are a promising candidate has zero-emission power source for transport and stationary cogeneration applications due to its very high efficiency, lowtemperature operation, high power density, fast startup, and system robustness. For a given Membrane/Electrode Assembly (MEA), the power density of a fuel cell stack can be significantly increased by reducing the profile of the bipolar plates Water flooding will make the PEM fuel cell performance unpredictable and unreliable under the nominally identical operating conditions. Issue for PEMFCs can be resolved through the appropriate design of flow channels for effective removal of water built on the flow field (bipolar) plates.
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More From: American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
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