Performance Investigation of a Novel Staggered Round Table Channel for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

Based on the internal mass transfer of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), a novel staggered round table channel is proposed, namely, round table stoppers are arranged on both sides of the channel and in the direction of gas flow. The study systematically investigates the effects of various structural parameters on the PEMFC performance, including the arrangement of round tables on both sides of the channel, radius, degree of sparseness, and number. It is found that the staggered arrangement can improve the cell performance more significantly, and the current density can be increased by 5.0% compared with the direct channel. With the proper increase of the radius and number of round tables, the round table stopper forces the reactant to diffuse downward and improves the uniformity of reactant distribution. Compared with other sparsity, the equidistant arrangement of stoppers in the channel is conductive to accelerating the convective mass transfer and drainage characteristics of the cell. As shown by numerical analysis results, the performance and dewatering efficiency of PEMFC are the best when the round tables on both sides are staggered, the radius is 0.65 mm, the number is 10, and the round table in the channel is arranged equidistantly.