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http://dx.doi.org/10.3795/KSME-B.2010.34.10.885

Computational Fluid Dynamics Study on Uniform Cooling of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells by Parallel Multi-pass Serpentine Flow Fields  

Yu, Seung-Ho (School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul Nat'l Univ.)
Baek, Seung-Man (School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul Nat'l Univ.)
Nam, Jin-Hyun (School of Automotive, Industrial, and Mechanical Engineering, Daegu Univ.)
Kim, Charn-Jung (School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul Nat'l Univ.)
Publication Information
Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B / v.34, no.10, 2010 , pp. 885-891 More about this Journal
Abstract
Thermal management is important for enhancing the performance and durability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and is taken into account in the design of PEMFCs. In general, cooling pates with circulating liquid coolant (water) are inserted between several unit cells to exhaust the reaction heat from PEMFCs. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed to characterize the uniform cooling performance of parallel multipass serpentine flow fields (MPSFFs) that were used as coolant flow channels in PEMFCs. The cooling performances of conventional serpentine and parallel flow fields were also evaluated for the purpose of comparison. The CFD results showed that the use of parallel MPSFFs can help reduce the temperature nonuniformity, and thus, can favorably enhance the performance and durability of PEMFCs.
Keywords
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell; Cooling Plate; Coolant Flow Channel; Parallel Multi-Pass Serpentine Flow Fields; Temperature Uniformity;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
Times Cited By SCOPUS : 0
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