Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy (한국수소및신에너지학회논문집)

The Korean Hydrogen and New Energy Society (한국수소및신에너지학회)
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Investigation of Water Droplet Behaviour on GDL Surface and in the Air Flow Channel of a PEM Fuel Cell under Flooding Conditions

플러딩 조건 하에서의 고분자전해질형 연료전지 GDL 표면과 공기극 유로 채널에서의 물방울 유동 특성 고찰

  • kim, Hansang (Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Seoul National Univ. of Science & Technology) ;
  • Min, Kyoungdoug (School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University)
  • 김한상 (서울과학기술대학교 기계.자동차공학과) ;
  • 민경덕 (서울대학교 기계항공공학부)
  • Received : 2012.09.28
  • Accepted : 2012.10.26
  • Published : 2012.10.31
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Abstract

Proper water management is crucial for the efficient operation of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Especially, for automotive applications, A novel water management that can avoid both membrane dry-out and flooding is a very important task to achieve good performance and efficiency of PEM fuel cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the liquid water behavior on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface and in the cathode flow channel of a PEM unit fuel cell under flooding conditions. For this purpose, a transparent unit fuel cell is devised and fabricated by modifying the conventional PEM fuel cell design. The results of water droplet behavior under flooding conditions are mainly presented. The water distributions in the cathode flow channels with cell operating voltage are also compared and analyzed. Through this work, it is expected that the data obtained from this fundamental study can be effectively used to establish the basic water management strategy in terms of water removal from the flow channels in a PEM fuel cell stack.

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References

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