Flow field bipolar plates in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell: Analysis &amp; modeling

KAHRAMAN, Hüseyin; Orhan, Mehmet F.

doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2016.10.053

Cited by 202 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The FFP comprises > 60% of the weight and 30% of the total cost of the FC stack (Li and Sabir, 2005;Chowdhury et al, 2018;Pollet et al, 2019). A good design of the FFP can thus improve the overall PEMFC stack performance in terms of costs as much as 50% (Kahraman and Orhan, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow Field Patterns for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

et al. 2020

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Flow field designs for the bipolar plates of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell are reviewed; including the serpentine, parallel, interdigitated, mesh type or their mixtures, furthermore 2D circular and 3D tubular geometries, porous, fractal, and biomimetic flow fields. The advantages/disadvantages and tendencies from field optimizations are discussed. The performance of each flow field design is compared to the conventional serpentine flow field. Good flow field plates give uniform gas distributions, low pressure drop for transport, and sufficient rib area to provide high electronic conductivity. A good field should also prevent water condensation, remove water efficiently, and provide sufficiently high moisture content in the membrane. The demands on design are sometimes contradictory. Future work should aim for a flow field geometry and topology that produces uniform gas delivery at a low pressure-drop, and at the same time has an optimal channel shape for better water removal. It is concluded that for an area-filling gas distributor, the developments should aim to find a flow field in accordance with minimum entropy production, making an emphasis on multi-criteria optimization methods.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow Field Patterns for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

et al. 2020

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“…S6-S8, ESI †), fractal flowfields with N = 3 and 4 exhibit the lowest values (respectively B75% and B50% lower than conventional serpentine flowfield design for all RH tested) reducing the power requirements for pressurization and recirculation of the reactants. 39 On the contrary, fractal flow-fields with N = 5 exhibit a similar pressure drop to serpentine flow-field designs due to the constricted air flow through smaller hydraulic diameters of the inlet and outlet channels. 40,41 3.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

A lung-inspired approach to scalable and robust fuel cell design

Trogadas

Cho

Neville

et al. 2018

Energy Environ. Sci.

163

179

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A lung-inspired approach is employed to overcome reactant homogeneity issues in polymer electrolyte fuel cells. The fractal geometry of the lung is used as the model to design flow-fields of different branching generations, resulting in uniform reactant distribution across the electrodes and minimum entropy production of the whole system. 3D printed, lung-inspired flow field based PEFCs with N = 4 generations outperform the conventional serpentine flow field designs at 50% and 75% RH, exhibiting a B20% and B30% increase in performance (at current densities higher than 0.8 A cm Broader contextFlow-field design is crucial to fuel cell performance, since non-uniform transport of species to and from the membrane-electrode assembly results in significant power losses. The long channels of conventional, serpentine flow fields cause large pressure drops between inlets and outlets, thus large parasitic energy losses and low fuel cell performance. This issue is exacerbated for small, portable fuel cells, where the power required for fluid transport should be minimal. To ensure uniform distribution of reactants across the electrode and a low pressure drop, we use a nature-inspired design that is rooted in thermodynamic and mechanical fundamentals, rather than biomimicry in a narrow sense. Inspiration is derived from the structure of the human lung, which ensures uniform gas distribution via an optimized fractal structure linking bronchi to alveoli, and realizing a remarkable combination of minimal entropy production, low pressure drop, and scale-invariant operation. Our 3D-printed, conducting flow-field plates maintain these unique characteristics of the lung, resulting in improved fuel cell performance over conventional serpentine flow-field based fuel cells. Uniformity in reactant distribution and minimal pressure drop are retained during scale-up, demonstrating the robustness of the proposed nature-inspired approach across length scales.

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“…By contrast, oxygen is reduced at the cathode catalyst layer, and consumes electrons to generate water, following equation (11). The overall reaction can be defined through equation (12). 39 At anode:…”

Section: Governing Equationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of methanol's liquid nature at room temperature, it is also easier to handle, store, transport. 12,13 Wang et al 14 investigated the effects of varying the channel/rib width and cross-sectional area of the flow channel on the performance of PEM fuel cells using different flow field designs. 3 DMFCs also have a fast start up, operate at low temperatures unlike solid-oxide fuel cells that operate at high temperatures, 4,5 and are noise-free.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10,11 The design of the flow field, which affects the chemical and electrical transport processes, has been extensively studied by several researchers. 12,13 Wang et al 14 investigated the effects of varying the channel/rib width and cross-sectional area of the flow channel on the performance of PEM fuel cells using different flow field designs. Their results indicate that the channel width and cross-sectional area have a significant influence on the under-rib flow of the reactants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance enhancement of direct methanol fuel cell using multi‐zone narrow flow fields

2019

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Summary New serpentine and spiral flow field configurations were developed to enhance the performance of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The new configurations are based on two primary concepts, namely, narrowing the flow field and partitioning the total active area of the fuel cell. Three flow channel heights of 0.8, 0.4, and 0.2 mm were investigated in serpentine and spiral flow fields. The main active area is considered a single zone and is partitioned into two‐ and four‐zone designs while maintaining the total inlet mass flow rate of the reactant and oxidant. To determine the performance parameters of the newly proposed designs, a three‐dimensional single‐phase isothermal model was developed, numerically simulated, and validated through experimental measurements. The findings of the current study indicate that a serpentine flow field configuration with a channel height of 0.2 mm and two zones attains an enhancement of the net power density of 37% compared to a conventional single‐zone design with a flow channel height of 0.8 mm. Similarly, for a spiral flow field design, the maximum net power density increased by 26% using a two‐zone configuration with a channel height of 0.2 mm, in comparison to the conventional design of a single‐zone and a flow channel height of 0.8 mm. The newly developed designs utilize the lower height of the flow fields to decrease the dimensions of the fuel cell stacks and reduce the material costs required.

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Flow field bipolar plates in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell: Analysis & modeling

Cited by 202 publications

References 23 publications

Flow Field Patterns for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Flow Field Patterns for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

A lung-inspired approach to scalable and robust fuel cell design

Performance enhancement of direct methanol fuel cell using multi‐zone narrow flow fields

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