Thermal and electrochemical performance analysis of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell under assembly pressure on gas diffusion layer

Toghyani, Somayeh; Nafchi, F. Moradi; Afshari, Ebrahim; Hasanpour, Kourosh; Baniasadi, Ehsan; Atyabi, Seyed Ali

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.01.068

Cited by 61 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…where the effective permeability and the product take into account each phase and the porous matrix , K (m 2 ) is the absolute permeability of the medium and it is calculated based using the Carman-Kozeny equation [56] and the dimensionless relative permeability, , which is approximated by the cube of the phase saturation [57] as shown in Equation 4:…”

Section: Mathematical Model Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

PEM fuel cell performance improvement through numerical optimization of the parameters of the porous layers

Carcadea

Ismail

Ingham

et al. 2020

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

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A numerical model for a PEM fuel cell has been developed and used to investigate the effect of some of the key parameters of the porous layers of the fuel cell (GDL and MPL) on its performance. The model is comprehensive as it is three-dimensional, multiphase and non-isothermal and it has been well-validated with the experimental data of a 5 cm² active area-fuel cell with/without MPLs. As a result of the reduced mass transport resistance of the gaseous and liquid flow, a better performance was achieved when the GDL thickness was decreased. For the same reason, the fuel cell was shown to be significantly improved with increasing the GDL porosity by a factor of 2 and the consumption of oxygen doubled when increasing the porosity from 0.40 to 0.78. Compared to the conventional constant-porosity GDL, the graded-porosity (gradually decreasing from the flow channel to the catalyst layer) GDL was found to enhance the fuel cell performance and this is due to the better liquid water rejection. The incorporation of a realistic value for the contact resistance between the GDL and the bipolar plate slightly decreases the performance of the fuel cell. Also the results show that the addition of the MPL to the GDL is crucially important as it assists in the humidifying of the electrolyte membrane, thus improving the overall performance of the fuel cell. Finally, realistically increasing the MPL contact angle has led to a positive influence on the fuel cell performance.

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Section: Mathematical Model Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

PEM fuel cell performance improvement through numerical optimization of the parameters of the porous layers

Carcadea

Ismail

Ingham

et al. 2020

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

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“…It is worth mentioning that the trend of cell performance degradation due to clamping pressure was also observed under normal PEFC operating conditions. And the non‐deformed case (case 1) was found to have the best cell performance compared to the clamped cases , , . The clamping pressure was reported to have a direct influence in the reactants transport that caused by the reduced porosity and thickness of GDL.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Effects of Clamping Pressure on Cold Start Behavior of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

et al. 2019

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Understanding the cold start process of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) is crucial to the development of an advanced PEFC of good cold start performance or to the design of advanced cold start strategies. In this study, a three‐dimensional cold start model has been adapted and further developed to numerically investigate the cold start behavior under the applied clamping pressure, which was not considered in previous cold start modeling and simulation work. The PEFC cold start performance is studied under various assembly pressures in terms of polarization curves, ice formation, water content profile, and current density distribution, etc. The results indicate that, using a large clamping pressure leads to a significant decline on the cold start performance; therefore, using an optimum clamping pressure is important to obtain a better cold start performance. It is found that increasing the clamping pressure not only increases the ice accumulation in cathode catalyst layer, but also causes the dehydration of membrane and decreases the cold start performance. The proposed model can be used as a powerful tool to study the realistic cold start performance of PEFC and to assist the development of more advanced PEFC cold start strategies.

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“…For example, cyclic compression causes significant and irreversible changes in the GDL's structure and properties, surface morphology and pore size, which inhibit the gas circulation and blocks the water evacuation. Moreover, it induces a nonlinear decrease in the contact electric resistance between the bipolar plate and GDL [7][8][9][10][11]. Some GDLs undergo hydrophobic treatment or have an additional microporous layer for better efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study of gas diffusion layers nonlinear orthotropic behavior

2022

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One of the most important components of PEMFC is the gas diffusion layer (GDL), owing to its key role in the reactant diffusion, water management, thermal and electron conductivity. Therefore, the GDL must have an optimal stiffness to ensure these transport functions during numerous hydrothermal cycles. The understanding of its behavior is still a remaining issue. Its orthotropic mechanical behavior requires a series of mechanical characterizations in the plane of the fibers and out of plane. In addition, there are different manufacturing processes for GDL in sheet or roll form to optimize its functional properties. A macro porous layer (MPL) or different PTFE contents might be added by different manufacturers to optimize its performance. In this study, we have performed several mechanical tests differentiating between in plane and out of plane properties in order to characterize different GDLs available on the market. All of the experimental work has been done in the machine (MD) and cross machine direction (CD) according to the fiber orientation. The different GDL types were then classified into categories presenting similar mechanical response.

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Thermal and electrochemical performance analysis of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell under assembly pressure on gas diffusion layer

Cited by 61 publications

References 29 publications

PEM fuel cell performance improvement through numerical optimization of the parameters of the porous layers

PEM fuel cell performance improvement through numerical optimization of the parameters of the porous layers

Effects of Clamping Pressure on Cold Start Behavior of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

Experimental study of gas diffusion layers nonlinear orthotropic behavior

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