Self-humidifying effect of air self-circulation system for proton exchange membrane fuel cell engines

Qinguo Zhang, Zheming Tong, Shuiguang Tong and Zhewu Cheng

Renewable Energy, 2021, vol. 164, issue C, 1143-1155

Abstract: A dynamic mechanism model of a control-oriented hydrogen fuel cell system based on the cathode exhaust gas cycle is established, and the effects of operating parameters on the two-phase water transfer and dynamic output performance of a fuel cell are analyzed, the transport process of material and the spatial distribution of water content in the membrane electrode were obtained. The study found that too low humidity at the cathode inlet of the stack will cause corrosion of the catalyst layer and the carbon black carrier, resulting in agglomeration and sintering of the catalyst particles. The membrane is also severely damaged by mechanical properties, and black impurities and broken fibers are found on the membrane surface. Under the passive operation of the cathode self-circulation system, the maximum humidity of the mixed gas can reach 60%. The new system is advantageous to the evaporation of water vapor at higher operating temperature and can inhibit the flooding of membrane electrode assembly. It takes about 20s for the current to reach the steady state of the set value, and about 30s for the voltage to reach the steady state. The voltage fluctuation is small and the output power is stable, indicating high reliability.

Keywords: Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC); Cathode exhaust circulation; Self-humidifying effect; Liquid water saturation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148120316712
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:164:y:2021:i:c:p:1143-1155

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.10.105

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().