Mass Transfer and Heat Transfer Characteristics of PEM fuel cell by Permeability of GDL

GDL Permeability에 따른 고분자 전해질 연료전지의 물질전달 및 열전달 특성에 관한 연구

Among the main components of PEM fuel cell, the functions of GDL are to transport reactants from the channel to the catalyst and remove reaction products from the catalyst and transport heat from the catalyst to the channels in the flow filed plate. Permeability of GDL is known to make it possible to enhance the gas transport through GDL, devoting to get better performance. In this paper, three dimensional numerical simulation of the fuel cell by the permeability of GDL is presented by using a FLUENT modified to include the electrochemical behavior. Results show that as permeability is higher than $10^{-12}m^2$, gradients of temperature distribution, oxygen molar concentration and current density distribution in MEA were decreased. Although heat generation was increased as high permeability, MEA's temperature was lower than the low permeability of GDL. This seems because that convection was higher affects in mass and heat transfer process than diffusion as permeability of GDL is increases.