Numerical Investigation of Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow inside PEMFC Gas Channels with Rectangular and Trapezoidal Cross Sections

Kim, Jin Hyun; Kim, Woo Tae

doi:10.3390/en11061403

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Anyanwu et al introduced a sinusoidal wavy channel design to improve the water removal capacity in PEMFC. Besides, Kim et al compared the water transport processes in the gas channels with rectangular sections and trapezoidal sections via the volume of fluid (VOF) method. The water volume fraction, the water coverage ratio of the GDL surface, and the pressure drop through the channel have also been taken into consideration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water transport in the gas diffusion layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cell under vibration conditions

Jiao

Niu

et al. 2020

Int J Energy Res

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Summary Fuel cell vehicles face complicated road conditions, which may impact on the output performance of fuel cell stacks. In the present study, the water transport in the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) under vibration conditions are investigated. A stochastic method is employed to reconstruct the 3‐D GDL with experimentally validated varying porosities. The volume of fluid (VOF) method is adopted to investigate the two‐phase problems. Sinusoidal vibration source terms are superposed, which can vary with required amplitudes and directions. Over time, the water transport process takes three steps: water intrusion, water accumulation, and water removal. The water intrusion tends to start from the sides of the GDL, then spreads into the central area. Compared with the no‐vibration case, the water saturations are higher in both the vertical and horizontal vibration cases. The vibration will enhance the water transport through GDL layers. As such, the higher the vibration amplitude and frequency, the larger the water saturation. Accordingly, the water saturation of the GDL vary sinusoidally over time. The water breakthrough paths are identified and compared during the water removal processes. Vibration in the horizontal direction is much easier to promote the water transport inside a layer compared with vibration in the vertical direction. More substantial water saturation in the GDL layers will restrict the gas transfer paths. Consequently, less oxygen will participate in the reaction, which will further impact on the fuel cell performance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water transport in the gas diffusion layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cell under vibration conditions

Jiao

Niu

et al. 2020

Int J Energy Res

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“…Their results proved that channel surface contact angle had a tremendous impact on droplet transport. Kim and Kim [21] also numerically studied the liquid water dynamics in rectangular and trapezoidal microchannels using the VOF technique. The effect of the top and side walls static contact angle and the air inlet velocity was studied based on water removal characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Investigation of Liquid Water Transport Dynamics in Novel Hybrid Sinusoidal Flow Channel Designs for PEMFC

et al. 2019

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This study numerically investigates liquid water dynamics in a novel hybrid sinusoidal flow channel of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The two-phase flow is examined using a three-dimensional, transient computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation employing the coupled level set and volume of fluid (VOF) method. Simulations for hybrid and non-hybrid sinusoidal flow channels, including a straight flow channel, are compared based on their water exhaust capacities and pressure drops. Additionally, the effects of inlet gas velocity, wall wettability, and droplet interaction in the flow channel on the dynamic behaviour of liquid water are investigated. Results reveal that the novel hybrid sinusoidal channel designs are consistent in terms of quicker water removal under varying hydrophilic wall conditions. Also, it is found that the liquid surface coverage, detachment, and removal rate depends on droplet proximity to the walls, inlet gas velocity, and wall contact angle. Also, the time a droplet makes contact with the side walls affect the discharge time. Additionally, there is an improvement in the gas velocity magnitude and vertical component velocity across the hybrid sinusoidal channel designs. Therefore, the unique geometric configuration of the proposed hybrid Design makes it a viable substitute for water management in PEMFC applications.

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“…One of the commonly used models for investigating liquid transport behaviors inside the catalyst, gas diffusion layers, and flow fields is the volume of fluid (VOF) method. 39 The method is used widely for simulating the multi-fluid flow problems with significant changes in the interface topology. By using the VOF method, the movement of interfaces and boundaries of fluid in a multiphase flow can be tracked.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of that, the method has been used to predict the performance of the conventional serpentine and parallel flow field designs. [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] Moreover, visualization experiments using transparent fuel cell has been employed to validate the effectiveness of the method. 44,48,49 The liquid water behaviors have been intensively investigated by implementing the VOF method on the conventional cathode designs in a single cell and stacks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air‐liquid water transport phenomena in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell cathode with a leaf‐like flow field design

Dang

Zhou

2021

Int J Energy Res

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Liquid water management is one of the key research topics for the development and commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) as it greatly affects their performance and durability. Natureinspired designs show their prominent characteristics such as low pressure drops and effective fluid distribution. Those designs with branched configurations similar to leaves allow more efficient water management; therefore, provide better fuel cell performance than the conventional ones. The air-liquid water transport phenomena are studied for the first time for a leaf-like biomimetic flow field design with a channel configuration mimicking the branching of veins in leaves. The study is conducted using a 3D two-phase air-liquid flows transient numerical simulation. The simulation utilizes the volume of fluid (VOF) method to track the gas-liquid interface with the validated dynamic contact angle (DCA) model is implemented for better accuracy. The fundamental understanding of the liquid water transportation behaviors inside this type of biomimetic flow field is made. Observations such as the effect of the branching on the liquid water drainage could be used for the improvement of flow field designs. For the given boundary conditions, the liquid amount in the flow field becomes stable at 1.5 Â 10 À4 kg after the start-up time, while the pressure drop fluctuates about 3.25 kPa. Novelty StatementA leaf-like biomimetic flow field is designed with a channel configuration mimicking the branching of veins in leaves. A 3D CFD multiphase numerical simulation utilizing the validated volume of fluid and dynamic contact angle method is employed for investigating the air-liquid water transport process. Pressure, water, and velocity distribution, and the effect of the branching on the liquid water drainage, which could be used for the improvement of flow field designs, are observed. K E Y W O R D S biomimetic flow field, flow field design, fuel cell, PEMFC, volume of fluid method

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Numerical Investigation of Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow inside PEMFC Gas Channels with Rectangular and Trapezoidal Cross Sections

Cited by 21 publications

References 32 publications

Water transport in the gas diffusion layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cell under vibration conditions

Water transport in the gas diffusion layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cell under vibration conditions

Numerical Investigation of Liquid Water Transport Dynamics in Novel Hybrid Sinusoidal Flow Channel Designs for PEMFC

Air‐liquid water transport phenomena in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell cathode with a leaf‐like flow field design

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