Numerical and experimental study of two-phase flow uniformity in channels of parallel PEM fuel cells with modified Z-type flow-fields

Moosa Ashrafi, Homayoon Kanani and Mehrzad Shams

Energy, 2018, vol. 147, issue C, 317-328

Abstract: The aim of this study is to improve two-phase flow uniformity of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with parallel flow-fields. Therefore, a series of experiments are performed to find the relevance of cathode stoichiometry ratio, unsteady distribution of water coverage ratios and power of a PEMFC with Z-type flow-field. The experimental results indicate that at high cathode stoichiometry ratios, the power and efficiency are stable but their magnitudes are low. In addition, the fuel cell later reaches to its stable power and efficiency. However, the duration of this stability is higher than low cathode stoichiometry ratios. A 3D numerical model is proposed in order to simulate two-phase flow in channels of parallel flow-fields. This model, which is validated by the experimental results, considers the microstructure of gas diffusion layers. By using this model, a modified flow-field with uniform distribution of single-phase and two-phase flow is introduced. Unlike the simple flow-field, the plugs do not exist in the modified flow-field. It has lower two-phase pressure drop than the simple flow-field. The simulation results show that the parasitic power for the air supply system of this modified flow-field is lower than the simple flow-field and therefore its overall efficiency is higher.

Keywords: PEM fuel cell; Two-phase flow; VOF method; Parallel flow-field; Water management; Flow uniformity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544218300823
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:energy:v:147:y:2018:i:c:p:317-328

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.01.064

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

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