Thermal and Electrical Experimental Characterization of Ethylene Glycol and Water Mixture Coolants for a 400 W Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel

Abstract

Nanofluid is an emerging technology in heat transfer study. The effect of nanofluids as a cooling medium in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is studied. Nanofluids with 0.1% and 0.5% of Al2O3 dispersed in base fluid of 50:50 mixture of Ethylene Glycol and water were analyzed experimentally. A 400 W liquid cooled PEMFC was used to verify the findings. The result showed that insignificant improvement in performance of PEMFC with nanofluids, perhaps due to the lower wattage of PEMFC used. However, the thermal performance is improved through the heat transfer rate increment of 68.5 % and 46 % for both 0.5 % of Al2O3 nanofluid and 0.1 % of Al2O3 nanofluid respectively.