Thermal management of open-cathode proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack with thin vapor chambers

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is one of the most promising electricity-generating devices with zero pollution. However, a large amount of waste heat will be generated during the operation. The waste heat must be dissipated in time to prevent performance deterioration and irreversible damage. In this paper, a novel cooling strategy is proposed and implemented. Five thin vapor chambers (VCs) are integrated into a 10-cell open-cathode PEMFC stack to enhance its heat dissipation effect. PEMFC stack with VCs has been successfully fabricated and tested experimentally. Results show that VCs can effectively reduce the operating temperature of PEMFC and the minimum in-plane temperature difference can be reduced to 0.5 °C, which provides a reliable and stable thermal environment for safe operation. The effects of VCs on the through-plane and in-plane temperature distribution is studied and analyzed in detail. In addition, when the cathode air flow is small, the thermal management of the stack is significantly affected by the inclination angle. This study has fully demonstrated the feasibility of integrating VCs in PEMFC stack to improve thermal management, and provides guidance for designing and developing a better cooling system of PEMFC stack.