Korean Chemical Engineering Research

The Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers (한국화학공학회)
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Effect of Hydrogen Recirculation on the Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell with Dead Ended Mode

Dead ended 모드에서 수소 재순환이 고분자전해질연료전지의 성능에 미치는 영향

  • Kim, Junseob (School of Chemical Engineering University of Ulsan) ;
  • Kim, Junbom (School of Chemical Engineering University of Ulsan)
  • Received : 2019.02.23
  • Accepted : 2019.04.09
  • Published : 2019.08.01
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Abstract

As the performance of PEMFC has been improved, the water and heat generated by reaction have increased so, the water and heat management of PEMFC is becoming more important. In this study, hydrogen recirculation was applied as the water management technique and the effect of recirculation flow rate, purge interval and duration on the performance of PEMFC was investigated. Anode pressure, fuel humidity and utilization, water discharge amount was measured to check the effect of purge conditions on performance. As the recirculation flow rate has increased, the performance of PEMFC became lower due to decrease of anode outlet pressure. According to the purge conditions, instantaneous voltage drop has occurred because of accumulated water. In frequent purge conditions, the performance of PEMFC gradually decreased due to fuel humidity control failure. Stable performance and high fuel utilization was achieved on this work by analyzing the effect of purge conditions.

고분자전해질 연료전지(PEMFC)의 성능이 개선됨에 따라 생성물인 물과 열의 발생이 증가하고 이를 처리하기 위한 관리기법이 중요해지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 물 관리 기법으로 수소 재순환을 적용하였고, 수소 재순환 유량(flow rate)과 퍼지 간격(purge interval) 및 지속 시간(duration)이 연료전지의 성능에 미치는 영향에 대한 실험을 수행하였다. Purge 조건의 영향을 해석하기 위하여 수소극의 압력, 연료의 습도, 운전 간의 연료 이용 효율과 물 배출 양을 측정하였다. 수소 재순환 유량이 증가할수록 수소극 출구의 압력 저하로 인하여 스택 성능이 낮아졌다. Purge 조건에 따라서 물을 효과적으로 배출하지 못해 순간적인 전압 강하가 발생하거나 혹은 잦은 purge로 인해 수소극의 습도를 유지하지 못하여 성능이 점차적으로 감소하는 것을 확인하였다. Purge 조건 실험을 통하여 수소극의 습도를 유지하고 응축된 물을 충분히 배출할 수 있는 purge interval과 duration을 선정하였고, 이를 통하여 스택의 성능과 연료 이용 효율을 향상시킬 수 있었다.

Keywords

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Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental system.

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Fig. 2. Relative humidity and decreased pressure in different recirculation flow rate.

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Fig. 3. Influence of recirculation flow rate on stack performance without purge (a) averaged stack performance during 15 min (b) stack performance per second at 0.5 SLM and 3 SLM.

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Fig. 4. Stack voltage variation by purge duration under dead ended anode system.

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Fig. 5. Influence of purge duration on stack performance (a) duration conditions (b) stack performance at startup and (c) stack performance during 3hours.

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Fig. 6. Influence of purge duration on (a) anode pressure, (b) fuel flow rate and (c) relative humidity of fuel.

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Fig. 7. Influence of purge interval on stack performance (a) purge conditions (b) stack performance at startup and (c) stack performance during 3 hours.

Table 1. Stack specification and test conditions

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Table 2. Amount of discharged water and fuel efficiency according to purge duration (During 3 hours)

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Table 3. Amount of discharged water and fuel efficiency according to purge interval (During 3 hours)

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