Abstract
In this study, a significant number of experimental tests to PEM fuel cells were conducted to investigate the effect of gas flow fields on fuel cell performance. Graphite plates with various flow field or flow channel designs, from literature survey and also novel designs by the authors, were used for the PEM fuel cell assembly. The fabricated fuel cells all have an effective membrane area of 23.5 cm2. The results showed that the serpentine flow channel design is still favorable, giving the best single fuel cell performance amongst all the studied flow channel designs. A novel symmetric serpentine flow field was proposed for relatively large size fuel cell application. Four fuel cell stacks each including four cells were assembled using different designs of serpentine flow channels. The output power performances of fuel cell stacks were compared and the novel symmetric serpentine flow field design is recommended for its very good performance.
Highlights
Fuel cells are known as one of the most efficient energy conversion devices
All the designs, including a novel design proposed by the authors, are considered and fabricated, and the experimental test results of the fuel cell performance were compared on the same basis of materials of membrane, graphite plates for flow channels, as well as operating conditions
This work experimentally studied the effects of flow field designs on single Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell performance firstly
Summary
Experimental study and comparison of various designs of gas flow fields to PEM fuel cells and cell stack performance. A significant number of experimental tests to proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells were conducted to investigate the effect of gas flow fields on fuel cell performance. Graphite plates with various flow field or flow channel designs, from literature survey and novel designs by the authors, were used for the PEM fuel cell assembly. The results showed that the serpentine flow channel design is still favorable, giving the best single fuel cell performance amongst all the studied flow channel designs. Four fuel cell stacks each including four cells were assembled using different designs of serpentine flow channels. The output power performances of fuel cell stacks were compared and the novel symmetric serpentine flow field design is recommended for its very good performance
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