Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society (한국수소및신에너지학회논문집)

The Korean Hydrogen and New Energy Society (한국수소및신에너지학회)
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Visualization of Water Droplets in the Simple Flow Channel and Rib Geometry for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs)

고분자전해질형 연료전지의 단순 채널 리브 형상에서의 물방울 가시화 연구

  • Choi, Min Wook (Grad. School of Department of Automotive Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology) ;
  • Kim, Han-Sang (Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology)
  • 최민욱 (서울과학기술대학교 자동차공학과 대학원) ;
  • 김한상 (서울과학기술대학교 기계.자동차공학과)
  • Received : 2014.08.01
  • Accepted : 2014.08.31
  • Published : 2014.08.30
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Abstract

The effective water management in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is one of the key strategies for improving cell performance and durability. In this work, an ex situ measurement was carried out to understand the water droplet behavior on the surface of gas diffusion layer (GDL) as a fundamental study for establishing novel water management. For that purpose, simplified cell including one rib and two flow channels was designed and fabricated. Using this ex situ device, the water droplet emergence through the GDL of the PEMFC was emulated to understand liquid water transport through the porous diffusion medium. Through the visualization experiment, the emergence and growth of water droplets at the channel/GDL interface are mainly observed with the surface characteristics of GDL (SGL 10BA, 24BA) and rib when the liquid water passes through the GDL and is expelled to the flow channel. It is expected that the results obtained from this study can contribute to the better understanding on the water droplet behavior (emergence and removal) in the flow channels of PEMFC.

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References

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