The Effect of Different Flow Patterns on Anode Fluid Behaviors of Micro Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Abstract

Based on the visualization technology, we investigated experimentally the effect of different flow patterns on anode fluid behaviors of the μDMFC (Micro Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) with a transparent material under the same condition. Stainless steel mesh was utilized as the current collector which was distinct from the carbon cloth or carbon paper. Four dissimilar flow patterns were developed and tested. The observation of the effect of different flow patterns revealed that movements of dilute methanol solutions and CO2 gas bubbles in the dot and parallel flow fields represented more difficult, which could result in a decline of the μDMFC performance. The study also showed that a channel blocking in the single-serpentine flow field would be extremely terrible which could lead to a fuels leaking of the μDMFC, meanwhile the liquid-gas flow was more fluent and stable in a double-serpentine flow field. Therefore, due to its advantages, a double-serpentine flow pattern is more suitable for the μDMFC application compared with the other flow patterns.