Heat and mass transfer of a planar membrane humidifier for proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Chen, Chen-Yu; Yan, Wei‐Mon; Lai, Chi-Nan; Su, Jian-Hao

doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.02.045

Cited by 43 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The number of flow channels is 24 in the straight flow channel without turns, while the number of turns of the three‐serpentine, four‐serpentine, and six serpentine flow channels is seven, five, and three, respectively. The geometrical characteristics of the channel cross‐sections are depicted in Figure 2E, and their magnitudes are reported in Table 1 9,17,18 …”

Section: Mathematical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the available literature works have focused on the simple design of gas‐to‐gas humidifiers and examined their performance through experimental approaches. For example, Chen et al 17 developed a planar membrane humidifier for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and tested the influence of the counterflow and parallel flow, the airflow, the humidity, and the temperature of the dry air on the efficiency, water recovery ratio (WRR), dew point approach approximate temperature (DPAT), and pressure drop of the humidifier. The results showed that an increase in airflow rate improves the overall accumulated water, but it does not improve WRR and DPAT.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A novel geometrical design of gas‐to‐gas planar membrane humidifier for proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Wang

Lee

et al. 2021

Int J Energy Res

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Summary A gas‐to‐gas membrane humidifier recovers heat and water from the wet hot exhaust gas of a proton electrolyte membrane fuel cell and keeps the inlet feed air of the cell warm and humid. This type of humidifier does not need external water sources, and it is compact and efficient with practical applications in portable devices and automobiles. In the present study, four potential designs of gas‐to‐gas planar membrane humidifiers were introduced, and their characteristic behavior was examined. The simulation results showed that the geometrical design of the humidifier channels could notably influence the efficiency of the device. It was found that a three‐inlet serpentine humidifier could provide the largest water recovery ratio and the heat transfer rate among the proposed designs, with a slight increase in the pressure drop. Hence, the three‐inlet design was selected as the optimal geometrical design of the humidifier. Then, the impacts of design parameters on the characteristic behavior of the three‐channel model were explored. The results show an increase in the outlet (wet side) temperature and relative humidity enhances the water recovery and efficiency of the humidifier. The outcomes of the present research are of practical interest for the design of novel commercial humidifiers.

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Section: Mathematical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel geometrical design of gas‐to‐gas planar membrane humidifier for proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Wang

Lee

et al. 2021

Int J Energy Res

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“…As the key component of the membrane humidifier, the water vapor-permeable membrane should have good vapor permeability and low air permeability . Depending on the membrane structure, a water vapor-permeable membrane can be divided into two categories: dense membranes and porous membranes .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PEBAX 3533/PAA/CNC Composite Fiber Membranes as the Humidifier Membrane for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abi

Chang

2022

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

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A new type of humidification membrane for proton exchange membrane fuel cells composed of polyether-block polyamide (PEBAX) 3533, polyacrylic acid (PAA), and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) was fabricated using the electrospinning method. CNCs were used to improve the hydrophilicity of the membrane, and PAA was used to improve the spinnability of the material. Using a scanning electron microscope, the morphology of PEBAX/PAA/CNC composite fiber membranes (CFMs) and electrospun fibers was investigated. Through X-ray diffraction analysis and the tests of water vapor permeability, air permeability, and water contact angles, the effects of CNCs on membrane properties were investigated. The results showed that the addition of CNCs improved the hydrophilicity and crystallinity of the CFM; while the air barrier properties of the CFM improved, the water vapor permeability coefficient of the membranes decreased. When the content of CNCs was 4.8 wt %, the vapor/air selectivity reached the highest value of (2.20 ± 0.05) × 10 4 , which was 14% more than that of the fiber membrane without CNCs.

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“…This kind of fuel cell has received considerable attention in recent years due to their potential benefits and advantages, including high tolerance to CO poisoning, fast reaction kinetics at elevated temperatures thus the possibility of using nonprecious catalyst and easy waste heat recovery (Oono, Sounai et al 2009, Chen and Lai 2010, Giffin, Galbiati et al 2017, Haider, Wen et al 2021. Since the vapor management of HT-PEMFC is easier than traditional PEM Fuel cell based on Nafion membrane (Himanen, Hottinen et al 2007, Chen, Siegel et al 2013, Chen, Yan et al 2017, the vapor behavior (concentration and distribution) is often ignored. However, vapor content in HT-PEMFC may result in the uneven distribution of phosphoric acid in the 4 membrane, which may decrease the proton conductivity and affect the lifetime of the membrane (Oono, Sounai et al 2009, Mack, Heissler et al 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Membrane materials and H3PO4 doping level of the membrane are two of the key parameters that may affect cell performance (Chen, Liu et al 2019). Nowadays, Polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane is the most commonly used material for HT-PEMFC among all kinds of membrane materials, such as Nafion (Chen, Yan et al 2017),…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical study of vapor behavior in high temperature PEM fuel cell under key material and operating parameters

Xia

Zhang

Chen

et al. 2021

International Journal of Green Energy

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The water issue of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) is rarely studied in the previous work. However, the different water vapor behaviors might greatly influence both cell performance and stability. In order to gain a fundamental understanding of the vapor behaviors in HT-PEMFC, a 3D computational fluid dynamics model and a 2D transient model were developed to investigate the effects of materials properties and operating parameters on the vapor behavior. Temperature, membrane materials and phosphoric acid doping degrees are examined. The results shows that higher temperature and phosphoric acid doping degrees with PBI membrane would lead to a significant increase of water vapor generation at cathode. For the transient model, the dynamics of vapor accumulation were observed with the dead-end anode. It is revealed that vapor transport and distribution get adapted to a dynamic equilibrium after 18 s. According to these results, a periodic purging at anode with optimized purging time is still needed to remove the accumulated water vapor. The findings of this paper can be further applied in the design of fuel cell controller.

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Heat and mass transfer of a planar membrane humidifier for proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Cited by 43 publications

References 20 publications

A novel geometrical design of gas‐to‐gas planar membrane humidifier for proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells

A novel geometrical design of gas‐to‐gas planar membrane humidifier for proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells

PEBAX 3533/PAA/CNC Composite Fiber Membranes as the Humidifier Membrane for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Numerical study of vapor behavior in high temperature PEM fuel cell under key material and operating parameters

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