Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the separator thickness on not only the heat and mass transfer characteristics, but also the power generation characteristics of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with a thin polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and thin gas diffusion layer (GDL) operated at higher temperatures of 363 and 373 K. The in-plane temperature distributions on the back of the separator at the anode and cathode, which are the opposite sides to the GDL, are measured using a thermograph at various initial cell temperatures (Tinit), relative humidity (RH) levels, and supply gas flow rates. The total voltage corresponding to the load current is measured in order to evaluate the performance of the PEMFC. As a result, it is revealed that the effect of the RH on the power generation characteristics is more significant when the separator thickness decreases. It is revealed that the power generation performance obtained at high current densities decreases with the increase in Tinit with thinner separator thicknesses. According to the investigation of the in-plane temperature distribution, it is clarified that the temperature decreases at corner positions in the separator with the separator thickness of 2.0 mm, while the temperature gradually increases along with the gas flow with separator thicknesses of 1.5 mm and 1.0 mm.
Highlights
We investigated the effect of the separator thickness on the heat and mass transfer characteristics and the power generation characteristics of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems using the combination of a thin polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and thin gas diffusion layer (GDL) operated at higher temperatures, such as 363 K and 373 K
The total voltage and load current have been measured and analyzed in order to evaluate the performance of the PEMFC
It was revealed that the effect of relative humidity (RH) on the power generation performance increases with the decrease in separator thickness
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Organization (NEDO) road map 2017 [1] that the operation temperature range of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems is 363 K to 373 K, which are relatively higher temperatures than the present operation temperature for stationary and mobility applications. If PEMFC systems were operated in the temperature range of 363 K to. 373 K, this would have the following advantages: (1) improvement of the electrochemical kinetics at both anode and cathode sides; (2) reduction in the cooling system for automobile applications because of the increase in temperature difference between the PEMFC stack and coolant; (3) durability improvements for CO contained in H2 reformed from hydrocarbon [2]. The operation temperatures of current PEMFC systems using
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