Abstract
Operating parameters like pressure, temperature, the stoichiometric ratio of reactants, relative humidity and design parameters like rib width to channel width (L:C), the shape of the flow channel and the number of passes on the flow channel are influencing the performance of the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). In this paper, optimization of operating and design parameters such as pressure, temperature, inlet reactant mass flow rate and various rib width to channel width (L:C) 1:1, 1:2, 2:1 and 2:2 on serpentine and interdigitated flow channel of 25cm2 active area of the PEMFC was considered. Creo Parametric 1.0 and CFD Fluent 14.0 software packages were used to create the 3 Dimensional (3- D) model and simulation of PEMFC. The optimization was carried out on the various parameters with MINITAB 17 software and MATLAB software. From the first stage, the Landing to channel width (L: C) - 1:1 of serpentine and the interdigitated flow channel has the maximum influence on fuel cell performance and square of response factor (R2) was achieved from the Taguchi method by MINITAB 17 software as 99.48 and 99.71 % respectively. In the second stage, the regression equation or mathematical model obtained from MINITAB 17 software were fed into the MATLAB software to get optimized parameters. Further the power densities were obtained corresponding to the optimized parameters using the CFD Fluent 14.0 software.
Highlights
The Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) are being developed for commercial applications in the areas of transportation, back-up power and portable power
It was concluded that the design parameter, landing to channel ratio of serpentine and interdigitated flow channel having 1:1 at A1, and the operating parameters like pressure 2.5 bar as B4, temperature 323 K as C1, theoretical consumption of mass flow rate 3.5 as D2 were the optimum parameters to show the better performance of PEMFC.The optimization results of various parameters were based on S/N ratios and the significance of each factor by ranking them according to their performance
The other parameters were influencing the output of PEMFC to a considerable extent, pressure, rib to channel width (L: C) of serpentine and interdigitated flow channel and Stoichiometric ratio respectively
Summary
The PEMFCs are being developed for commercial applications in the areas of transportation, back-up power and portable power. He studied the effect of serpentine flow channel with the best arrangement of cuboid rows with the minimum pressure drops in anode and cathode channels and maximum electrical power on PEMFC performance [16] Numerous parameters such as fuel cell operating temperatures, cathode and anode humidification temperatures, operating pressures, and reactant flow rate on affecting the PEMFC performance by using the Taguchi method and the relevant response factors were used to set the training patters of the neural network by Sheng-Ju Wu et al [17]. This paper has a detailed study about the optimization of various pressure ranges 1 ,1.5, 2 and 2.5 bar temperature of 323K, 333K, 343K and 353K, anode and cathode inlet reactant mass flow rates of 3 , 3.5, 4 and 4.5 times to the theoretical value and various rib to channel width (L:C)- 1:1, 1:2, 2:1 & 2:2 on serpentine and interdigitated flow channel of 25 cm active area of PEMFC and their influence in the performance were compared. Cathode exchange co efficient ious components (such as between the gas diffusion layer and the current collector) and the effect of gravity was neglected
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