Heat Transfer in a Porous Electrode of Fuel Cells

Abstract

The thermal-fluid behaviors in a porous electrode of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) in contact with an interdigitated gas distributor are investigated numerically. The porous electrode consists of a catalyst layer and a diffusion layer. The heat transfer in the catalyst layer is coupled with species transports via a macroscopic electrochemical model. In the diffusion layer, the energy equations based on the local thermal nonequilibrium (LTNE) are derived to resolve the temperature difference between the solid phase and the fluid phase. Parametric studies include the Reynolds number and the Stanton number (St). Results show that the wall temperature decreases with increasing Stanton number. The maximum wall temperatures occur at the downstream end of the module, while the locations of local minimum wall temperature depend on the Stanton numbers. Moreover, the solid phase and the fluid phase in the diffusion layer are thermally insulated as St⪡1. The diffusion layer becomes local thermal nonequilibrium as the Stanton number around unity. The porous electrode is local thermal equilibrium for St⪢1. Finally, the species concentrations inside the catalyst and diffusion layers are also provided.