Flow distribution in the manifold of PEM fuel cell stack

Influence of geometric parameters of the flow fields on the performance of a PEM fuel cell. A review

“…Their investigations showed how the variation in port diameter leaded to different grades of gas maldistribution and consequently, non-uniform water content in the membrane. Other researchers [7,8] have focused their numerical studies to evaluate the influence of the flow field geometry on the pressure drop variation and flow distribution in a PEM stack. They concluded that both the channel resistance and the rip widths (space between channels) can enhance the uniformity of the flow distribution.…”

Experimental and numerical studies of portable PEMFC stack

“…Even though many researchers have been studying the impact of different parameters on stack performance [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], a standard methodology to improve the stack design is not available. This methodology should be specific to the typical stack design (e.g., short stack (10-300 W) for portable devices, medium stack (0.3-5 kW) for residential stationary applications, and large stack (30-50 kW) for automotive applications such as fuel cell hybrid and battery dominated fuel cell hybrid vehicles).…”

Flow and pressure distribution in linear discrete “ladder-type” fluidic circuits: An analytical approach

“…A number of studies have been carried out on various topologies of fluidic circuits, arborescent or meshed. In direct link with the present work, let us mention the recent investigation of square meshed circuits or square lattices (Tondeur et al, 2011) and of different varieties of ladder-type circuits, including multi-scale constructal-type structures (Chen et al, 2007;Wang, 2008Wang, , 2010Saber et al, 2009Saber et al, , 2010. In his work focused on fuel cells, Wang developed a continuous theoretical model based on mass and momentum conservation to predict the flow distribution and pressure drop in such circuits, taking both friction and inertial effects into account, and for both U and Z circuits Earlier studies along the same line neglect either the inertial effects (for example, Kee et al, 2002;Maharudrayya et al, 2005 for fuel cells) or the friction effects (for example Bassiouny and Martin, 1984a, b for heat exchangers).…”