Transport Phenomena in the Porous Cathode of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

A polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell model with multi-species input

“…Inclusion of such effects will broaden the applicability of the model. From a 2D perspective, the computational models of Natarajan et al [23] and Bradean et al [24] illustrated that liquid water formation is most likely to propagate in the region of the cathode diffuser directly adjacent to the solid shoulder of the graphite plate. This is due to the fact that this region of the diffuser is not exposed to the gas flow in the cathode channel, thereby hindering water removal and causing an accumulation in water content.…”

“…This limitation extends to other 2D computational models where multi-component transport is included but restricted to the inclusion of oxygen, nitrogen, and water in the inlet cathode feed after humidification [6,7]. This reflects only the ideal case.…”

Macroscopic Modeling of Polymer-Electrolyte Membranes

“…In addition, a reference-potential boundary condition is often used on one side of the membrane. Finally, there are those models that treat catalyst layers as interfaces [74,97,118,139,140]. For these simulations, the membrane boundary conditions can include source terms such as reactant consumption and heat generation.…”

A comprehensive, consistent and systematic mathematical model of PEM fuel cells

“…Convective transport, through the application of Darcy's law, was included in the model of Kazim et al [29]. Heat transfer was examined by Bradean et al [30]. Two-phase, liquid water flow was modeled by He et al [31], using a two-fluid approach.…”