Impact of Separator Thickness on Temperature Distribution in Single Cell of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Operated at Higher Temperature of 90 °C and 100 °C

Akira Nishimura, Nozomu Kono, Kyohei Toyoda, Daiki Mishima and Mohan Lal Kolhe
Additional contact information
Akira Nishimura: Division of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Nozomu Kono: Division of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Kyohei Toyoda: Division of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Daiki Mishima: Division of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Mohan Lal Kolhe: Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Agder, P.O. Box 422, NO 4604 Kristiansand, Norway

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-25

Abstract: The New Energy and Industry Technology Development Organization (NEDO) road map (Japan, 2017) has proposed that a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) system, which operates at a temperature of 90 °C and 100 °C, be applied for stationary and mobility usage, respectively. This study suggests using a thin polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and a thin gas diffusion layer (GDL), at the same time, to achieve better power-generation performance, at a higher temperature than usual. The focus of this paper is to clarify the effect of separator thickness on the distribution of temperature at the reaction surface ( T react ), with the relative humidity (RH) of the supply gasses and initial operation temperature ( T ini ), quantitatively. In this study, separator thickness is investigated in a system using a thin PEM and a thin GDL. Moreover, this study investigates the difference between the maximum temperature and the minimum temperature obtained from the distribution of T react as well as the relation between the standard deviation of T react ? T ini and total voltage, to clarify the effect of separator thickness. The impact of the flow rates of the supply gases on the distribution of T react is not large, among the investigated conditions. It is noticed that the temperature distribution is wider when a separator thickness of 2.0 mm is selected. On the other hand, it is observed that the temperature increases along with the gas flow through the gas channel, by approximately 2 °C, when using a separator thickness between 1.5 mm and 1.0 mm. The impact of the RH on the distributions of T react ? T ini is larger at T ini = 100 °C, when a separator thickness of 1.0 mm is selected. It is revealed that the wider temperature distribution provides a reduction in power-generation performance. This study proposes that the thin separators, i.e., with a thickness of 1.5 mm and 1.0 mm, are not suitable for higher temperature operation than usual.

Keywords: polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC); heat-transfer model; separator thickness; temperature distribution; high temperature operation of PEFC (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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