Optimization of reactants relative humidity for high performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with co-flow and counter-flow configurations

Wang, Yulin; Wang, Shixue; Liu, Shengchun; Li, Hua; Zhu, Kai

doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2019.112369

Cited by 34 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…At the same time, single flow channel simulation cannot analyze the influence of different flow field structures on water transport. For example, Wang et al 20 analyzes the water distribution of high‐performance fuel cells under different humidity and the distribution of reactants, but it is limited by the single flow channel model and cannot be like full flow. The field model analyzes the influence of the cathode and anode flow field structure on the water transport inside the fuel cell.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wang et al 19 used the same single flow channel PEMFC to study the influence of baffle plate arrangement on internal reactants and mass transfer. Wang et al 20 studied influence of the gas flow direction and different relative humidity on high performance PEMFC, with single channel PEMFC. Yang et al 21 analyzed the effect of flow direction on dynamic response in single flow channel PEMFC and found out that PEMFC with air and hydrogen counter flow had better dynamic response and stability than co‐flow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Dynamic analysis of internal reactants and water content distribution during anode purge in a proton‐exchange membrane fuel cell

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary For proton‐exchange membrane fuel cell, anode purge is a commonly used method to increase utilization rate of hydrogen and proton‐exchange membrane fuel cell durability. Limited by experiment condition, it is hard to analyze reactants and water content distribution in fuel cell during purge. This article uses transient simulation to dynamic analyze distribution of reactants and water content in a full flow field fuel cell (active area 82.14 cm2) with serpentine flow field during purge. From simulation result, it is found that corresponding structures relationship of anode and cathode flow channel causes reactants fluctuating greatly. The direction of water transport across membrane is not fixed. The transmission direction is also affected by local water content of anode and cathode. Dynamic analysis of purge is divided into three stages: purge interval, purging and after purge. During purge interval, water content increases with time. During purging, water content decreases with time in inlet and outlet sections, but in serpentine section water content still increases with time. During after purge, water content increases with time, except inlet section. After multiple purge, purge has little influence on hydrogen distribution in anode flow channel, but value of hydrogen mass fraction increases and increase magnitude gradually decreases, finally reach dynamic equilibrium.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic analysis of internal reactants and water content distribution during anode purge in a proton‐exchange membrane fuel cell

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…An integral feature in the vehicular mechanism is the free volume existence in polymeric chains of proton exchange membranes [80]. This method can be employed to choose inorganic additives to enhance polymeric membrane proton conductivity at low RH conditions and high temperatures [81].…”

Section: Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (Pemfcs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

New Perspectives on Fuel Cell Technology: A Brief Review

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Energy storage and conversion is a very important link between the steps of energy production and energy consumption. Traditional fossil fuels are a natural and unsustainable energy storage medium with limited reserves and notorious pollution problems, therefore demanding a better choice to store and utilize the green and renewable energies in the future. Energy and environmental problems require a clean and efficient way of using the fuels. Fuel cell functions to efficiently convert oxidant and chemical energy accumulated in the fuel directly into DC electric, with the by-products of heat and water. Fuel cells, which are known as effective electrochemical converters, and electricity generation technology has gained attention due to the need for clean energy, the limitation of fossil fuel resources and the capability of a fuel cell to generate electricity without involving any moving mechanical part. The fuel cell technologies that received high interest for commercialization are polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The optimum efficiency for the fuel cell is not bound by the principle of Carnot cycle compared to other traditional power machines that are generally based on thermal cycles such as gas turbines, steam turbines and internal combustion engines. However, the fuel cell applications have been restrained by the high cost needed to commercialize them. Researchers currently focus on the discovery of different materials and manufacturing methods to enhance fuel cell performance and simplify components of fuel cells. Fuel cell systems’ designs are utilized to reduce the costs of the membrane and improve cell efficiency, durability and reliability, allowing them to compete with the traditional combustion engine. In this review, we primarily analyze recent developments in fuel cells technologies and up-to-date modeling for PEMFCs, SOFCs and DMFCs.

show abstract

“…Wang et al investigated the impacts of RH levels on the cell performance, liquid water saturation distribution, and membrane water content with the multiphase, three-dimensional PEM-FC model for the counterflow and co-flow patterns. They revealed that combinations of fully humidified hydrogen with low moisture oxygen or fully humidified oxygen and low moisture hydrogen had induced an increase in cell performance at the low cell potentials and decreased cell performance at the high cell potentials [10]. Iranzo et al performed experimental work to observe the varying operating conditions (current density, reactant humidification, and stoichiometry) on liquid water distributions using the neutron radiography approach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A CFD Modeling Study Based on Relative Humidity Effect on PEMFC Performance

Özdemir

Taymaz

2021

International Journal of Automotive Science and Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water management is a crucial parameter that significantly affects the uniform distributions of current density and cell voltage, durability, and working life of the fuel cell. In this investigation, three dimensional steady model was proposed for Z-type and U-type geometry and numerical simulations were fulfilled using commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) ANSYS FLUENT to investigate the impact of reactant humidification on cell performance and water manage-ment. CFD results were shown on polarization and power curves to observe the relative humidity (RH) effect on maximum power point tracking. The results demonstrated that cell performance could be improved significantly by decreas-ing RH of the cathode inlet gas from 100 to 10% at high current densities. In-creasing RH of the anode gas inlet from 10 to 100% at low operating voltages re-sulted in a superior performance. It was noted that convenient humidification of the reactant was essential.

show abstract

Optimization of reactants relative humidity for high performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with co-flow and counter-flow configurations

Cited by 34 publications

References 46 publications

Dynamic analysis of internal reactants and water content distribution during anode purge in a proton‐exchange membrane fuel cell

Dynamic analysis of internal reactants and water content distribution during anode purge in a proton‐exchange membrane fuel cell

New Perspectives on Fuel Cell Technology: A Brief Review

A CFD Modeling Study Based on Relative Humidity Effect on PEMFC Performance

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About