A numerical investigation of serpentine flow channel with different bend sizes in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Leila Rostami, Puriya Mohamad Gholy Nejad and Ali Vatani

Energy, 2016, vol. 97, issue C, 400-410

Abstract: Bipolar plates are one of the key parts of a PEMFC (polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell). The flow fields of the bipolar plates distribute reactant gasses on the electrode surfaces. The flow channels should have an appropriate design to decrease the mass transport loss at a minimum pressure drop. Among different flow channels, serpentine flow channel received considerable attention for application in electrochemical cells. In this work, a three-dimensional numerical model is proposed and applied for studying the effect of bend sizes on a PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cell. The obtained results show that as bend size increases from 1 mm to 1.2 mm, not only does the over potential reduce significantly but temperature gradient is also alleviated. These welcome effects are largely due to a more even distribution of electrolytes over the electrode surface which eventually increases the power density of the fuel cell about 1.78% compared to channels with 0.8 mm square bend size. Moreover, it is shown that the serpentine flow channels with 1.2 mm square bend size act successfully in preventing secondary flows internal thereby decreasing pressure drop about 90.6% compared to serpentine flow channels with a bend size of 0.8 mm.

Keywords: PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cell; Serpentine flow channels; Bend size; Power density; Pressure drop (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:97:y:2016:i:c:p:400-410

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.10.132

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