Impact of MPL on Temperature Distribution in Single Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell with Various Thicknesses of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

Akira Nishimura, Tatsuya Okado, Yuya Kojima, Masafumi Hirota and Eric Hu
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Akira Nishimura: Division of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu, Mie 514-8507, Japan
Tatsuya Okado: Division of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu, Mie 514-8507, Japan
Yuya Kojima: Division of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu, Mie 514-8507, Japan
Masafumi Hirota: Division of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu, Mie 514-8507, Japan
Eric Hu: School of Mechanical Engineering, the University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, SA, Australia

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: The impact of micro porous layer (MPL) with various thicknesses of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) on heat and mass transfer characteristics, as well as power generation performance of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC), is investigated. The in-plane temperature distribution on cathode separator back is also measured by thermocamera. It has been found that the power generation performance is improved by the addition of MPL, especially at higher current density condition irrespective of initial temperature of cell ( T ini ) and relative humidity condition. However, the improvement is not obvious when the thin PEM (Nafion NRE-211; thickness of 25 μm) is used. The increase in temperature from inlet to outlet without MPL is large compared to that with MPL when using thick PEM, while the difference between without MPL and with MPL is small when using thin PEM. It has been confirmed that the addition of MPL is effective for the improvement of power generation performance of single PEFC operated at higher temperatures than normal. However, the in-plane temperature distribution with MPL is not even.

Keywords: PEFC; temperature distribution; MPL; thickness of PEM; higher temperature operation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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