Research on low-temperature performance of plate-fin hydrogen preheater for a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell

Abstract

ABSTRACT In order to improve the cold-start performance of the fuel cell vehicles, a rapid anode heating system is provided to enable the stack to quickly reach its optimal performance at low temperatures. In this study, a three-dimensional element model of plate-fin heat exchanger has been developed and used to study the effect of structural parameters of staggered fins on the hydrogen transport phenomena and heat transfer performance. A series of simulations were carried out to study the influence of different fin parameters on heat transfer performance. Good agreement is found by comparing the simulation values with the predicted values of the experimental correlation and the deviation is less than 10%. It is shown that fin length has the greatest impact on the thermal performance factor of the radiator, while the contribution of fin thickness is minimal. Experiments show that the maximum heat transfer capacity of the plate-fin heat exchanger reaches 900 W, and the performance of the stack is increased by about 15%. Through the sensitivity analysis of the structural parameters of the hydrogen preheater, the optimal parameter combination was obtained. This research provides guidance for the design of the preheater and plays an important role in improving the low-temperature durability of hydrogen fuel cell engines.