Topology optimization of flow distribution zones mitigating preferential flow in large-scale PEM electrolyzers

Tala Borjigin, Feng Xiao, Yuxin Li, Kaichen Wang, Zhangying Yu, Zhirong Liao and Chao Xu

Energy, 2025, vol. 335, issue C

Abstract: Non-uniform fluid distribution significantly limits the performance and lifetime of large proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, as conventional flow field designs struggle to balance the competing requirements of high uniformity and low pressure drop. This study proposes a multi-stage, multi-objective topology optimization approach, using flow uniformity and pressure drop as co-optimization objectives, to design a novel, high-efficiency flow distribution zone structure for PEM electrolyzers. A full-scale, three-dimensional, two-phase, non-isothermal numerical model was developed to quantitatively evaluate the overall performance of the new distribution zone structure in terms of fluid distribution, multi-physics field uniformity, and electrolysis efficiency. Results show that the topology-optimized distribution zone flow field (TDZFF) effectively balances longitudinal and transverse flows, mitigating the non-uniform flow phenomena caused by preferential flow effects. Compared with the conventional manifold-type distribution zone flow field (MDZFF) and the dot-array-type distribution zone flow field (DDZFF), TDZFF improves flow uniformity by 89.80 % and 46.18 %, respectively, while reducing the pressure drop by 43.73 % and 32.86 %. The enhancement in flow uniformity further improves the uniformity of liquid saturation, current density, and temperature distributions. Moreover, TDZFF establishes pressure differentials between adjacent channels to induce in-plane flow, thereby enhancing under-rib mass transport. Owing to the synergistic improvements in multi-physics uniformity and mass transfer, TDZFF achieves electrolysis efficiency gains of 9.37 % and 5.11 % over MDZFF and DDZFF, respectively, at an operating voltage of 2.1 V.

Keywords: PEM electrolyzer; Flow field distribution zone; Topology optimization; Flow uniformity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225036709
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:335:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225036709

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.138028

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 ().