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Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is a renewable technology application for vehicle power sources that is a viable challenger for a safe and efficient power generation. Nanofluids adoption is one of the advancements in PEMFC heat management. In addition to that, Bio Glycol is also introduced as a non-toxic, renewable fluid with 30% lower viscosity than regular petroleum-derived propylene glycol at low temperatures. The 0.5% volume concentration of hybrid nanofluids of Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3) and Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) in water:BG at 60:40 volume ratio was investigated in this work. This paper investigated the heat transfer improvement and the pumping power effect in mini channel of PEMFC distributor and serpentine cooling plate with the adoption of hybrid Al2O3 and SiO2 nanoparticles in water: Bio Glycol (BG). The simulation conducted using ANSYS Fluent, under laminar region of 300 to 1800 and constant heat flux of 6500 (W/m2) to imitate the heat generation in a PEMFC bipolar plate. The : ratios used were 10:90, 30:70, 50:50, and 70:30. The findings suggested that : (30:70) in water: BG provides the highest improvement of 14.4% in the serpentine cooling plate and 20.9% in the distributor cooling plate at Re 1800. However, the pressure drop for both plates was increased up to 7 times greater than the base fluid. The advantage ratio was then calculated to assess the feasibility of nanofluids in PEMFC cooling plates. As a conclusion it was recommended that the serpentine cooling plate outperforms the distributor cooling plate in terms of both heat transfer and pumping power need

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) generates electricity through the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. PEMFC is considered clean technology since the by-products of the reaction are only electricity, water, and heat. Thermal management of PEMFC can be further improved through the adoption of nanofluids as its cooling medium. Nanofluids are fluids that contain suspensions of nanoparticles in their base fluid. Nanofluids have better heat transfer performance as compared to their base fluid due to their significant thermal conductivity improvement. However, unlike any other heat transfer application, there is a strict limit on the electrical conductivity of the nanofluids due to their electrically active environment. Therefore, there is a possible current leakage to the coolant due to the nanofluids’ conductive behavior. In this study, heat transfer performance and current drop of 0.5% Al2O3 and 0.5% SiO2 water were investigated. The nanofluids were forced to flow in a charged channel subjected to a heater pad of 60°C to 70°C to mimic the operating condition of a PEMFC. The performance of each nanofluid was observed and compared to distilled water. The channel temperature was reduced by 43.3 % and 42.7 % by Al2O3 and SiO2 nanofluids, respectively, compared to base fluids at Re 700. In terms of current drop, SiO2 nanofluids have the highest current drop with 2.33 % from the initial current value. It was further justified with the increment in electrical conductivity value of the fluids after the experiment, thus justifying the current leakage hypothesis.