Design of an innovative distributor to improve flow uniformity using cylindrical obstacles in header of a fuel cell

Dabiri, Soroush; Hashemi, Mohammadreza; Rahimi, Mohammadfazel; Bahiraei, Mehdi; Khodabandeh, Erfan

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2018.04.005

Cited by 45 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It has produced 41 % more power density than the channel without coil due to the generation of circumferential flow of reactant near GDL, thereby forcing the reactants towards GDL and increasing the electrochemical reactions. The effect of inserting small cylindrical shaped obstacles (Each of 0.8 mm diameter in 9 rows with zigzag manner) inside the input header of PFF (having 32 channels) was analyzed [43] . These obstacles have reduced the maldistribution factor (MF) upto 3.8, thereby maintaining almost equal mass flow rates in all the channels.…”

Section: Effects Of Different Flow Field Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Studies of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells with Different Flow Field Designs – Review

Marappan¹,

Palaniswamy

Velumani

et al. 2021

The Chemical Record

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is majorly used for power generation without producing any emission. In PEMFC, the water generated in the cathode heavily affects the performance of fuel cell which needs better water management. The flow channel designs, dimensions, shape and size of the rib/channel, effective area of the flow channel and material properties are considered for better water management and performance enhancement of the PEMFC in addition to the inlet reactant's mass flow rate, flow directions, relative humidity, pressure and temperature. With the purpose of increasing the output energy of the fuel cell, many flow field designs are being developed continuously. In this paper, the performance of various conventional, modified, hybrid and new flow field designs of the PEMFC is studied in detail. Further the effects of channel tapering, channel bending, landing to channels width ratios, channel cross‐sections and insertion of baffles/blockages/pin‐fins/inserts are reviewed. The power density of the flow field designs, the physical parameters like active area, dimensions of channel/rib, number of channels; and the operating parameters like temperature and pressure are also tabulated.

show abstract

Section: Effects Of Different Flow Field Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Studies of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells with Different Flow Field Designs – Review

Marappan¹,

Palaniswamy

Velumani

et al. 2021

The Chemical Record

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The main features of pin-type flow fields are penetrating more flow in porous regions, harvesting additional by-products through creating a positive pressure gradient, and improving fuel cell performance. However, the maldistribution of reactant flow is the main issue of pin-type flow fields [14]. In the following, we will review various flow fields in PEMFCs, and the use of PEMFCs for aircraft propulsion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing the Specific Power of a PEM Fuel Cell Powered UAV with a Novel Bean-Shaped Flow Field

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One of the marketing challenges of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for various applications is enhancing flight durability. Due to the superior characteristics of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), they have the potential to reach a longer flight time and higher payload. In this regard, a numerical assessment of a UAV air-cooled PEMFC is carried out using a three-dimensional (3-D), multiphase, and non-isothermal model on three flow fields, i.e., unblocked bean-shaped, blocked bean-shaped, and parallel. Then, the results of single-cell modeling are generalized to the PEMFC stack to provide the power of 2.5 kW for a UAV. The obtained results indicate that the strategy of rising air stoichiometry for cooling performs well in the unblocked bean-shaped design, and the maximum temperature along the channel length reaches 331.5 K at the air stoichiometric of 30. Further, it is found that the best performance of a 2.5 kW PEMFC stack is attained by the bean-shaped design without blockage, of which its volume and mass power density are 1.1 kW L−1 and 0.2 kW kg−1, respectively. It is 9.4% lighter and 6.9% more compact than the parallel flow field. Therefore, the unblocked bean-shaped design can be a good option for aerial applications.

show abstract

“…Hydrogen starvation can be avoided by ensuring uniform hydrogen distribution . Many methods can make the flow inside the fuel cell more uniform, such as design microdistributor, obstacles, and 3D fine mesh flow field . In addition, increasing the hydrogen content in the anode flow channel downstream is an important choice for management strategies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study and mitigation of abnormal behavior of cell voltage in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack

Luo

Jian

2019

Int J Energy Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary The aim of this study is to investigate the abnormal behavior of cell voltage in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack and a mitigation strategy. The proposed strategy is simple and requires only a three‐way solenoid valve to replace the direct way solenoid valve of the original system. It is applied to a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack with a dead‐ended anode to verify its validity. The behavior of the cell voltages in the stack is discussed in detail, especially the cell reversal process. The results show that the proposed strategy can significantly reduce the severity of hydrogen starvation. And the maximum power of the stack is increased by 10.67%. It is a sudden increase related to cell reversal mitigation. Uneven hydrogen distribution is the cause of low cell voltage and cell reversal. This strategy increases the cell voltage by increasing the hydrogen content in the anode flow channel downstream. It also significantly reduces the fluctuations in cell voltage and improves the uniformity of the cell voltage. This experimental study contributes to mitigate hydrogen starvation in cells of proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks in application.

show abstract

Design of an innovative distributor to improve flow uniformity using cylindrical obstacles in header of a fuel cell

Cited by 45 publications

References 40 publications

Performance Studies of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells with Different Flow Field Designs – Review

Performance Studies of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells with Different Flow Field Designs – Review

Enhancing the Specific Power of a PEM Fuel Cell Powered UAV with a Novel Bean-Shaped Flow Field

Experimental study and mitigation of abnormal behavior of cell voltage in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About