Metal foam as a turbulent flow distributor in the cooling channels of a PEM fuel cell—a numerical study

Abstract

Operating temperature is one of the most important parameters affecting the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The cooling system of a PEM fuel cell maintains the temperature of the fuel cell stack at a specific value and removes the heat generated in the cell. This paper presents 3D numerical simulation of a water-cooled PEM fuel cell cooling system, with a metal foam insert instead of traditional cooling channels. We explore the possibility of using metal foams for thermal management of fuel cells. We consider the turbulent flow of the coolant through the porous medium and investigate the effect of metal foam properties, including porosity and pore size, on the performance of the cooling system. The Brinkman–Darcy–Forchheimer equation is employed to analyze the flow field in the porous medium and the k − ε model is utilized for turbulence studies. The numerical results indicate that, at a specific Reynolds number, by increasing the porosity and the pore size of the metal foam, the pressure drop decreases, while the maximum temperature difference occurs in the cooling plate. The temperature uniformity index also increases. The latter result indicates that the temperature distribution in the cooling plate becomes more uniform. The obtained results of present study are in good agreement with available experimental and analytical data, confirming that the presented computational fluid dynamics modeling using the selected turbulence model can accurately predict the flow field parameters in the cooling channels of PEM fuel cells.

Porous Flow Field for Next-Generation Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Materials, Characterization, Design, and Challenges

“…Several models have been developed to analytically derive the overall heat transfer coefficient and thermal performance index, such as the effective medium model and the two-equation effective medium model. , In PEM fuel cells, foam materials are also considered for coolant plate applications. − Nevertheless, compared with the traditional channel-rib flow field, the porous flow field takes advantage of improving waste heat removal and uniform temperature distribution. , This configuration may be beneficial to reducing the number of coolant plates in the stack (e.g., two cells per coolant plate in Honda Clarity), therefore increasing the stack power density.…”

Factors influencing the performance of PEM fuel cells: A review on performance parameters, water management, and cooling techniques

“…Results reported an 8% reduction in uniformity index with zigzag channels compared to straight channels. Likewise, Saeedan et al 203 developed a 3D model to examine the metal form flow field for cooling of PEM fuel cell. They noticed that a reduction in metal foam pore size leads to a uniform temperature.…”

Analysis of the Heat Transfer in Electronic Radiator Filled with Metal Foam

“…Porous metal foam structures with high specific surface area, high permeability properties and high mechanical strength are being explored as an alternative material to conventional heat exchangers. In the field of heat transfer [13][14][15][16], metal foam holds great promise for applications in multifunctional heat exchangers [17][18][19], cooling systems [20][21][22][23], highpower batteries, compact electronic heat sinks [23][24][25][26][27][28] and so on. Porous metal foam can significantly reduce the size and mass of equipment when used in heat transfer equipment due to their light mass and low density.…”