Parametric study on geometric and material properties of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell with free vibration analysis

Abstract

The mechanical aspect of understanding the dynamic behaviour is very important in stack assembly of fuel cell configuration. Designing such configuration would be very useful to tune the system accordingly to avoid catastrophic failure due to resonance. The dynamic analysis of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is performed to understand its response during complex loading nature. The stack assembly of bipolar plate, gas diffusion electrolyte (GDE) and membrane are modelled and analysed using Mindilin plate element with finite element method (FEM). The parametric study on thickness, density and young's modulus and its influence on dominant modes of natural frequencies are analysed with a 5%–20% range of variations. It is observed that the bipolar plate's thickness plays a vital role in the vibration behaviour of the PEMFC.