This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
Effect of Geometry Variation in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell
Technical Paper
2020-01-1174
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
This content contains downloadable datasets
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
Water transport at high current densities is of main concern for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The water content of the membrane must be high enough to provide maximum electrical conductivity and thus optimal stack performance. Dry-out may also lead to membrane degradation. However, a too high level of humidity leads to cell flooding, blocking the air and fuel flows to the catalyst sites and thus the reactions, resulting in a drop-in efficiency. Fuel cells water transport physics requires further investigation due to its complexity [1,2] and numerical modelling can improve the fundamental understanding of the phenomena. In this work, a 3D comprehensive model for fuel cells is presented. The PEM fuel cell is modelled in Siemens Simcenter STAR-CCM+ [3]. Anode and cathode GDL are modelled as porous media, with electrochemical reactions calculated in an infinitely thin catalyst layer. The membrane is modelled as a solid block including proton and water transport with electro-osmotic drag as well as ohmic heating. A two-phase approach is used to model the gas mixture and liquid water transport in the GDL and channels. A study of different geometries and water management is presented.
Authors
Citation
Locci, C., Lueth, C., Nguyen, H., and Frojd, K., "Effect of Geometry Variation in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell," SAE Technical Paper 2020-01-1174, 2020, https://doi.org/10.4271/2020-01-1174.Data Sets - Support Documents
| Title | Description | Download |
|---|---|---|
| Unnamed Dataset 1 | ||
| Unnamed Dataset 2 |
Also In
References
- Lee , D.Y. , Elgowainy , A. , Kotz , A. , Vijayagopal , R. , and Marcinkoski , J. Life-Cycle Implications of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Technology for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Trucks Journal of Power Sources 393 31 217 229 2018 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.05.012
- Kast , J. , Morrison , J. , Gangloff , J. , Vijayagopal , R. , and Marcinkoski , J. Designing Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Trucks in a Diverse Medium and Heavy Duty Market Research in Transportation Economics 70 139 147 2018 10.1016/j.retrec.2017.07.006
- Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2019
- Tabuchi , Y. , Shiomi , T. , Aoki , A. , Kubo , N. et al. Effects of Heat and Water Transport on the Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Under High Current Density Operation Electrochimica Acta 56 1 352 360 2010 10.1016/j.electacta.2010.08.070
- Kotaka , T. , Tabuchi , T. , Pasaogullar , U. , and Wang , C.Y. Impact of Interfacial Water Transport in PEMFCs on Cell Performance Electrochimica Acta 146 618 629 2014 10.1016/j.electacta.2014.08.148
- Mench , M. , Dong , Q. , and Wang , C. In Situ Water Distribution Measurements in a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Journal of Power Sources 124 1 90 98 2003 10.1016/S0378-7753(03)00617-7
- Chen , Y. , Enearu , O.L. , Montalvao , D. , and Sutharssan , T. Review of Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations on PEMFC Performance Journal of Applied Mechanical Engineering 5 6 2006 10.4172/2168-9873.1000241
- Weber , A.Z. and Newman , J. Modeling Transport in Polymer-Electrolyte Fuel Cells Chemical Reviews 104 10 4679 4726 2004 10.1021/cr020729l
- Weber , A.Z. , Darling , R.M. , and Newman , J. Modeling Two-Phase Behavior in PEFCs Journal of Electrochemical Society 151 10 1715 1727 2004 10.1149/1.1792891
- Weber , A.Z. and Newman , J. Effects of Microporous Layers in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells Journal of Electrochemical Society 152 4 677 688 2005 10.1149/1.1861194
- Wang , C.Y. Fundamental Models for Fuel Cell Engineering Chemical Reviews 104 10 4727 4766 10.1021/cr020718s
- Wang , Y. and Wang , C.Y. Ultra Large-Scale Simulation of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells Journal of Power Sources 153 1 130 135 2006 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2005.03.207
- Luo , G. , Ju , H. , and Wang , C.Y. Prediction of Dry-Wet-Dry Transition in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells Journal Electrochemical Society 154 30 316 321 2007 10.1149/1.2429036
- Wilberforce , T. , Khatib , F.N. , Ijaodola , O.S. , Ogungbemi , E. et al. Numerical Modelling and CFD Simulation of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell Flow Channel Using an Open Pore Cellular Foam Material Science of the Total Environment 678 728 740 2019 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.430
- Pasaogullari , U. and Wang , C.Y. Two-Phase Modeling and Flooding Prediction of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells Journal of Electrochemical Society 152 2 380 390 2005 10.1149/1.1850339
- Spernjak , D. , Prasad , A.K. , and Advani , S.G. Experimental Investigation of Liquid Water Formation and Transport in a Transparent Single-Serpentine PEM Fuel cell Journal of Power Sources 170 2 334 344 2007 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2007.04.020
- Wu , H. , Li , X. , and Berg , P. On the Modeling of Water Transport in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells Electrochimics Acta 54 27 6913 6927 2009 10.1016/j.electacta.2009.06.070
- Springer , T.E. , Zawodzinski , S. , and Gottesfeld , S. Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Model Journal of Electrochemical Society 138 8 2342 2334 1991 1991 10.1149/1.2085971
- Gostick , J.T. , Fowler , M. , Ioannidis , M. , Pritzker , M. et al. Capillary Pressure and Hydrophilic Porosity in Gas Diffusion Layers for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells Journal of Power Sources 156 2 375 387 2006 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2005.05.086