Diffusive - Kinetic Evaporation Models for Fuel Cells

Abstract

Modeling evaporation within a fuel cell porous transport layer (PTL) is a complex, conjugate phenomenon that is highly dependent upon the local morphology, wetting, and operating conditions. Two very distinct evaporation models, one diffusive and one kinetic have been used to study evaporation in fuel cell porous media. Both evaporation models are implemented into a pore network model of a PTL. Simulation using both models are compared under the same morphological, wetting, and operation condition. The mass of evaporated water and liquid water distribution inside the PTL compared for the two models.