A single domain approach to modeling the multiphase flow within a flowing electrolyte – direct methanol fuel cell

Parametric studies on the membrane arrangement and porous properties of the flowing electrolyte channel in a flowing electrolyte–direct methanol fuel cell

“…The model in this study follows the two-phase and single domain multiphase mixture model (MMM) that the authors have previously proposed [9]. A brief summary of this model is provided in this section, however for further details, the reader is referred to the cited work.…”

“…(14), where _ N ''MeOH xover;CMÀCCL is the methanol crossover flux. Table 1 e Summary of source terms for each species [9].…”

“…The baseline operating conditions are shown in Table 4, while the fuel cell dimensions and material properties, and the electrochemical and transport properties can be found in Tables 5 and 6, respectively. Further numerical details, including information concerning the model calibration and validation are provided in the authors' previous work [9].…”

“…Since the introduction of this fuel cell, several single phase hydrodynamic studies [2e5], single phase models [6e8], and recently a two-phase single domain model of this fuel cell have been proposed [9]. These models have been used to perform parametric studies on various operating conditions, as well as understand the effectiveness of the FEC.…”

“…This is especially important since current FE-DMFC literature mainly discusses the effect of operating conditions on the performance of this fuel cell. Therefore, this study is devoted to utilizing the twophase single domain model proposed by Ouellette et al [9] to understand the effect that the porous properties (porosity and permeability) of the FEC and the anode and cathode membrane (AM and CM) thicknesses have on the performance of the FEeDMFC. The conditions which yield minimal methanol and water crossover will be discussed, as well as the conditions which provide the highest power output are pointed out.…”