Computational fluid dynamics study of PEM fuel cell performance for isothermal and non-uniform temperature boundary conditions

Impact of Thickness of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane and Gas Diffusion Layer on Temperature Distributions in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Operated at Temperature around 90 °C

“…16-18, it is clear that T react -T ini using Nafion 115 is higher than the other PEMs irrespective of T ini and relative humidity conditions. Since the thickness of Nafion 115 is the thickest among investigated PEMs, it is believed that the proton and water transfer is the worst among them [37]. Therefore, the power generation performance using Nafion 115 is also the worst which is shown in Table 3 and Figs.…”

“…1/K rib, c = δ cat /k cat + δ GDL /k GDL + δ rib /k rib + δ sep /k sep (11) 1/K chan, c =δ cat /k cat + δ GDL /k GDL + δ chan /k chan, c + δ sep /k sep (12) 1/K rib, a = δ PEM /k PEM + δ cat /k cat + δ GDL /k GDL + δ rib /k rib + δ sep /k sep (13) 1/K chan, a = δ PEM /k PEM + δ cat /k cat + δ GDL /k GDL + δ chan /k chan, a + δ sep /k sep (14) where, δ cat is the thickness of the catalyst layer (m); k cat is the thermal conductivity of the catalyst layer (W•m -1 •K -1 ); δ GDL is the thickness of GDL (m); k GDL is the thermal conductivity of GDL (W•m -1 •K -1 ); δ rib is the thickness of the separator rib (m); k rib is the thermal conductivity of the separator rib (W•m -1 •K -1 ); δ sep is the thickness of the separator excluding rib part (m); k sep is the thermal conductivity of the separator excluding rib part (W•m -1 •K -1 ); δ chan is the thickness of the channel of separator (m); k chan is the thermal conductivity of the mixture gas in the channel of separator (W•m -1 •K -1 ); δ PEM is the thickness of PEM (m); k PEM is the thermal conductivity of PEM (W•m -1 •K -1 ). [29,[37][38][39].…”

“…Since it is believed that proton and water transfer is promoted with the decrease in the thickness of PEM [37], the impact of thickness of PEM on temperature distribution on reaction surface is investigated in this study. Fig.…”

“…3We can save the time to clarify the mechanism of PEFC and develop PEFC because of simple model. [37] reported that the thin PEM whose thickness was 10 m provided lower ohmic resistance as well as better hydration of the anode H 2 due to increased back diffusion when operated at 60 °C. It can be expected that these positive effects of thinner PEM would promote the power generation performance of PEFC in a higher temperature operation.…”

Analytical investigation on impact of presence of MPL on temperature distribution in single cell of PEFC under high temperature condition

“…トスポットが生成すると電解質膜(PEM)の熱分解や，熱応力起因の破損が生じる ことから， 高温で運転する際にはこれまで以上に温度制御に配慮が必要となる． 200℃程度までの高温運転に関する PEFC の各種特性について報告例 (Chen and Su, 2018;Devrim et al, 2018;Kannan et al, 2018;Nalbant et al, 2018; はいくつかあるが，それらの多くが新材料の開発 (Devrim et al, 2018;や 電流密度や電圧変化のような発電特性評価 (Chen and Su, 2018;Nalbant et al, 2018;もしくは 耐久性評価 (Kannan et al, 2018;に関する報告であり，PEFC 単セル内部の温度分布特性につ いて評価した研究は少ない Lee et al, 2017;) ．さらに，カソード還元 反応に重要な役割を担う PEM とカソード触媒層の界面(本論文では反応面と定義する)の温度分布について評 価した研究は，著者らの過去の取り組み Nishimura et al, 2018) Table 1 Specification of PEFC components referred from the manufacture catalog and previous studies (Nishimura et al, 2018;Cooper et al, 2017;Penga et al, 2016;Nishimura et al, 2012;Kang and Ju, 2009). conductivity is promoted by humidification of PEM and the thermal conductivity of GDL is promoted by penetration of MPL into GDL.…”