Experimental investigation of a novel open cathode air-cooled fuel cell stack design featuring simultaneous inlet blowing and outlet suction

Xikai Tu, Jin Lv, Jin Wu, Xiaobing Luo and Zhengkai Tu

Energy, 2025, vol. 314, issue C

Abstract: Currently, open cathode air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stacks typically use single-sided fans on the cathode side, either at the inlet or outlet, employing suction or blowing methods for reactant gas supply and heat dissipation. However, this single-sided fan configuration still faces issues such as limited output power, low voltage, and poor temperature uniformity. This paper develops a double-sided fan design for both the inlet and outlet, capable of simultaneous blowing and suction. Ensuring consistent parasitic power, the study takes the frequently used single-sided air supply as a baseline and investigates the impact of three double-sided air supply modes on stack output performance: greater inlet than outlet airflow, equal inlet and outlet airflow, and greater outlet than inlet airflow. The results indicate that the equal double-sided airflow provides the best performance, increasing stack output power by 9.97 % and improving temperature uniformity by 6.83 % at 72A, while decreasing the maximum and average temperature by 1.77 °C and 1.43 °C, respectively. Additionally, this equal configuration significantly extends anode purging time by 471 %, increases hydrogen utilization from 97.792 % to 99.609 %, and better resists temperature fluctuations, maintaining 56.73 °C compared to 60.05 °C with single-sided airflow during rapid current changes from 60A to 70A.

Keywords: Proton exchange membrane fuel cell; Air-cooled; Open cathode; Blowing and suction; Thermal management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:314:y:2025:i:c:s0360544224040866

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.134308

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