Two‐phase flow model of the cathode of PEM fuel cells using interdigitated flow fields

Abstract

When interdigitated gas distributors are used in a PEM

Transient non-isothermal model of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell

“…where k c and k e are the condensation and evaporation rate constants, whose values are taken from [2]. We use a continuouslydifferentiable implementation of the following form…”

“…The GDL must allow sufficient oxygen from the cathode channel to enter the CCL, but must be sufficiently hydrophobic to expel any build-up of liquid water beyond that required for optimal hydration of the membrane. The importance of water management explains the emphasis placed on capturing the effects of (particularly) liquid water in modelling studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. However, a lack of understanding of the interaction between, and transport of, the three phases of water continues to retard progress towards a predictive model.…”

“…We assume that the net water produced is in dissolved form, consistent with the reaction location and the strongly hydrophillic nature of the ionomer. Condensation and evaporation are modelled using the approach in [2,4,5], and references therein. In this representation the transfer occurs at a finite rate, dictated by the deviation of the local thermodynamic state from equilibrium.…”

The effects of water and microstructure on the performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cells

“…The preceding discussion underlines the unquestionable importance of water management, which in turn explains the growing emphasis placed on (particularly) liquid water in modelling studies, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Though many of the issues are difficult to separate, they may be summarized as follows:…”

Water Management and Experimental Diagnostics in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

“…Wang et al (Wang et al, 2001) applied a two-phase flow model based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to the air cathode of PEFC with a hydrophilic GDL. He et al (He et al, 2000) and Natarajan and Nguyen (Natarajan & Nguyen, 2001) proposed twodimensional two-phase models for PEFCs with interdigitated and conventional flow fields, respectively. Subsequently, Pasaogullari and Wang (Pasaogullari & Wang, 2004a) developed a theory describing liquid water transport in hydrophobic GDL, and explored the effect of GDL wettability on liquid water transport.…”