Pore-Scale Modeling of Air–Water Two Phase Flow and Oxygen Transport in Gas Diffusion Layer of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Chongbo Zhou, Lingyi Guo, Li Chen, Xin Tian, Tiefeng He and Qinghua Yang
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Chongbo Zhou: College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Lingyi Guo: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Li Chen: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Xin Tian: Huadian Electric Power Research Institute Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 310030, China
Tiefeng He: College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Qinghua Yang: College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-17

Abstract: Understanding multiphase flow and gas transport occurring in electrodes is crucial for improving the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. In the present study, a pore-scale model using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) was proposed to study the coupled processes of air–water two-phase flow and oxygen reactive transport processes in porous structures of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and in fractures of the microscopic porous layer (MPL). Three-dimensional pore-scale numerical results show that the liquid water generation rate is gradually reduced as the oxygen consumption reaction proceeds, and the liquid water saturation in the GDL increases, thus the constant velocity inlet or pressure inlet condition cannot be maintained while the results showed that at t = 1,200,000 iterations after 2900 h running time, the local saturation at the GDL/MPL was about 0.7, and the maximum value was about 0.83, while the total saturation was 0.35. The current density reduced from 2.39 to 0.46 A cm −2 . Effects of fracture number were also investigated, and the results showed that for the fracture numbers of 8, 12, 16, and 24, the breakthrough point number was 4, 3, 3, and 2, respectively. As the fracture number increased, the number of the water breakthrough points at the GDL/GC interface decreased, the liquid water saturation inside the GDL increased, the GDL/MPL interface was more seriously covered, and the current density decreased. The pore-scale model for the coupled multiphase reactive transport processes is helpful for understanding the mechanisms inside the porous electrodes of PEMFC.

Keywords: proton exchange membrane fuel cell; gas diffusion layer; microscopic porous layer; fracture; two phase flow (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: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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