A 3D Simulation of Single-Channel High-Temperature Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Performances

Abstract

The fuel cell is an electrochemical energy converter that directly converts the chemical energy of the fuel into electrical current and heat. The fuel cell has been able to identify itself as a source of clean energy over the past few decades. In order to achieve the durability and stability of fuel cells, many parameters should be considered and evaluated Therefore, in this study, a single-channel high-temperature polymer exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) has been numerically simulated in three-dimensional, isothermal and single-phase approach. The distribution of the hydrogen and oxygen concentrations, as well as water in the anode and cathode, are shown; then the effect of different parameters of the operating pressure, the gas diffusion layer porosity, the electrical conductivity of the gas diffusion layer, the ionic conductivity of the membrane and the membrane thickness are investigated and evaluated on the fuel cell performance. The results showed that the pressure drop in the cathode channel was higher than the anode channel, so that the pressure drop in the cathode channel was higher than 9 bars but, in the anode channel was equal to 2 bars. By examining the species concentration, it was observed that their concentration at the entrance was higher and at the output was reduced due to participation in the reaction and consumption. Also, with increasing the operating pressure, the electrical conductivity of the gas diffusion layer and ionic conduction of the membrane, the performance of the fuel cell is improved.

Three dimensional numerical simulation of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

“…In the proposed numerical model, the following equations were assumed to govern the different parts of the fuel cell (Karimipour et al , 2016; Jalali and Karimipour, 2019; Goodarzi et al , 2019; Tian et al , 2019; Gholamalizadeh et al , 2019; Mozaffari et al , 2019; Salimpour et al , 2019; Nazarafkan et al , 2019; Rajabzadeh et al , 2019; D'Orazio and Karimipour, 2019; Sulgani and Karimipour, 2019; Nafchi et al , 2019; Ershadi and Karimipour, 2018; Nojoomizadeh et al , 2018; Safdari Shadloo, 2019; Hopp-Hirschler et al , 2019; Sadeghi et al , 2018; Hopp-Hirschler et al , 2018; Shadloo and Hadjadj, 2017; Sharma et al , 2019; Méndez et al , 2018; Piquet et al , 2019; Nguyen et al , 2019; Shenoy et al , 2019; Jamalabadi et al , 2019; Atyabi et al , 2019; Toghyani et al , 2019):…”

PtPd Hybrid Composite Catalysts as Cathodes for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

“…Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the development of fuel cells as an option for green power generation [7]. One of them is the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), where a hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR, Equation (1)) takes place at the anode and an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR, Equation (2)) occurs at the cathode.…”