Gas-phase particle image velocimetry (PIV) for application to the design of fuel cell reactant flow channels

Yoon, Sang Youl; Ross, Jacob W.; Mench, Matthew M.; Sharp, Kendra V.

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2006.02.043

Cited by 48 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…However, most of the attention has been directed towards the formation of liquid water above the GDL and in the channel rather than the phenomena at the catalyst layer above the membrane and through the GDL. Finally, there have been attempts at experimental studies of the flow within fuel cell channels, such as the one by Yoon et al [17] using PIV techniques, but their interest was again focused more on the 180 channel bends rather than the GDL itself.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore scale 3D modelling of heat and mass transfer in the gas diffusion layer and cathode channel of a PEM fuel cell

Kopanidis

Theodorakakos²,

Gavaises

et al. 2011

International Journal of Thermal Sciences

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a b s t r a c tFlooding of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells can be a bottleneck to the system's efficiency and even durability under certain operating conditions. Due to the small scale and complex geometry of the materials involved, detailed insight into the pore scale phenomena that take place are difficult to measure or simulate. In the present effort, a direct 3D microscale model of a portion of the PEM cathode channel and carbon cloth GDL is used to parametrically investigate local heat and fluid flow at the GDL's pore scale and their effects on condensation of water vapour that leads to flooding. The 3D simulation through the microscale geometry is among the first appearing in the international literature. The NaviereStokes, energy and water vapour transport equations are solved at steady state and in three-dimensional space for a range of inlet velocities and cloth fibre material properties, using a conjugate heat transfer approach to calculate the temperature field within the solid fibres. Psychrometric calculations are applied to provide indications of the conditions and areas most prone to condensation based on the calculated local temperatures and water vapour concentration.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore scale 3D modelling of heat and mass transfer in the gas diffusion layer and cathode channel of a PEM fuel cell

Kopanidis

Theodorakakos²,

Gavaises

et al. 2011

International Journal of Thermal Sciences

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“…One method of flow characterisation that the authors have employed and has been reported by others, is the technique of laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). [80,81] This technique has been applied extensively to the study of flow in systems such as the internal combustion engine and works by focusing a laser beam into a flow channel and measuring the scattered light from particles used to seed the flow. Information on the speed and direction of the flow can be obtained and almost the entire cross-section of a channel or corner can be profiled.…”

Section: Optical Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Happens Inside a Fuel Cell? Developing an Experimental Functional Map of Fuel Cell Performance

et al. 2010

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Fuel cell performance is determined by the complex interplay of mass transport, energy transfer and electrochemical processes. The convolution of these processes leads to spatial heterogeneity in the way that fuel cells perform, particularly due to reactant consumption, water management and the design of fluid-flow plates. It is therefore unlikely that any bulk measurement made on a fuel cell will accurately represent performance at all parts of the cell. The ability to make spatially resolved measurements in a fuel cell provides one of the most useful ways in which to monitor and optimise performance. This Minireview explores a range of in situ techniques being used to study fuel cells and describes the use of novel experimental techniques that the authors have used to develop an 'experimental functional map' of fuel cell performance. These techniques include the mapping of current density, electrochemical impedance, electrolyte conductivity, contact resistance and CO poisoning distribution within working PEFCs, as well as mapping the flow of reactant in gas channels using laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). For the high-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), temperature mapping, reference electrode placement and the use of Raman spectroscopy are described along with methods to map the microstructural features of electrodes. The combination of these techniques, applied across a range of fuel cell operating conditions, allows a unique picture of the internal workings of fuel cells to be obtained and have been used to validate both numerical and analytical models.

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“…The main limitation of μPIV for analyzing gas flows at microscale is linked to the Brownian motion of the small tracer particles, which makes difficult the cross-correlation process required to recognize particle patterns and extract velocity fields. For this reason, μPIV experiments in gases have been up to now limited to a few studies in millimetric channels and in non-rarefied regimes (Yoon et al 2006;Sugii and Okamoto 2006). On the other hand, the MTV technique is not based on a particle pattern identification.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of diffusion on molecular tagging velocimetry technique for rarefied gas flow analysis

Frezzotti

Mohand

Barrot-Lattes

et al. 2015

Microfluid Nanofluid

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The molecular tagging velocimetry (MTV) is a well-suited technique for velocity field measurement in gas flows. Typically, a line is tagged by a laser beam within the gas flow seeded with light emitting acetone molecules. Positions of the luminescent molecules are then observed at successive times and the velocity field is deduced from the analysis of the tagged line displacement and deformation. However, the displacement evolution is expected to be affected by molecular diffusion, when the gas is rarefied. Therefore, there is no direct and simple relationship between the velocity field and the measured displacement of the initial tagged line. This paper addresses the study of tracer molecules diffusion through a background gas flowing in a channel delimited by planar walls. Tracer and background species are supposed to be governed by a system of coupled Boltzmann equations, numerically solved by the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. Simulations confirm that the diffusion of tracer species becomes significant as the degree of rarefaction of the gas flow increases. It is shown that a simple advection–diffusion equation provides an accurate description of tracer molecules behavior, in spite of the non-equilibrium state of the background gas. A simple reconstruction algorithm based on the advection–diffusion equation has been developed to obtain the velocity profile from the displacement field. This reconstruction algorithm has been numerically tested on DSMC generated data. Results help estimating an upper bound on the flow rarefaction degree, above which MTV measurements might become problematic

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Gas-phase particle image velocimetry (PIV) for application to the design of fuel cell reactant flow channels

Cited by 48 publications

References 13 publications

Pore scale 3D modelling of heat and mass transfer in the gas diffusion layer and cathode channel of a PEM fuel cell

Pore scale 3D modelling of heat and mass transfer in the gas diffusion layer and cathode channel of a PEM fuel cell

What Happens Inside a Fuel Cell? Developing an Experimental Functional Map of Fuel Cell Performance

Role of diffusion on molecular tagging velocimetry technique for rarefied gas flow analysis

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