Structure optimisation of cathode parallel polar plate PEMFC based on topology optimisation

Abstract

Polar plate design can directly affect the performance of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC). A novel topology parallel polar plate design is proposed to improve cell performance. We used the sparse nonlinear optimisation (SNOPT) algorithm to freely evolve the 2D model and obtain the output material factor distribution map. While keeping the height of the gas diffusion layer constant, the channel height is stretched proportionally to the output material factor to obtain 3D models. By analyzing the mass transfer, water management, and cell performance, the results indicate that increasing the selection range of material output factors is beneficial for the diffusion of reactive gases, reducing pressure loss, and improving cell performance. Reducing the selection range of material output factors helps increase the reaction gas flow rate and enhancing drainage performance. The optimisation model with lower limits benefits oxygen diffusion, increasing gas flow rate and pressure loss, and has little impact on drainage. Case 6 performs well in mass transfer and drainage performance, and the pressure loss is relatively small. The quantitative evaluation shows that Case 6 has an improvement of 22.2% compared to the parallel polar plate and 26.5% compared to the serpentine polar plate in cell efficiency.