Two dimensional numerical modeling of a membrane humidifier with porous media flow field for PEM fuel cell

Ebrahim Afshari () and Nasser Baharlou Houreh ()
Additional contact information
Ebrahim Afshari: Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
Nasser Baharlou Houreh: School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

International Journal of Modern Physics C (IJMPC), 2015, vol. 26, issue 06, 1-16

Abstract: A membrane humidifier with porous media flow field (metal foam) can provide more water transfer, low manufacturing complexity and low cost in comparison with the conventional humidifier. In this study, a two-dimensional numerical model is developed to investigate the performance of the humidifier with porous metal foam. The results indicate that the dew point increases with a decrease in the permeability, but at permeabilities lower than 10-8the pressure drop increases extremely. At all ranges of pressures, temperatures and flow rates of humidifier inlet, the pressure drop in humidifier with porous media flow field is only about 0.5 kPa higher than that of the conventional humidifier, which is not significant and it can be ignored. An increase in the pressure at dry side inlet and wet side inlet of the humidifier results in a better humidifier performance. Humidifier performs better at high flow rates and temperatures of humidifier wet side inlet. At all ranges of pressures, flow rates and temperatures humidifier with porous metal foam indicates better performance.

Keywords: Membrane humidifier; porous media; pressure drop; permeability; two dimensional (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0129183115500618
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

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:wsi:ijmpcx:v:26:y:2015:i:06:n:s0129183115500618

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S0129183115500618

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Modern Physics C (IJMPC) is currently edited by H. J. Herrmann

More articles in International Journal of Modern Physics C (IJMPC) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().