Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.5229/JKES.2009.12.1.061

Comparison between CFD Analysis and Experiments According to Various PEMFC Flow-field Designs  

Lee, Kang-In (School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University)
Lee, Se-Won (School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University)
Park, Min-Soo (BK21 School for Creative Engineering Design of Next Generation Mechanical and Aerospace Systems, Seoul National University)
Cho, Yong-Hun (School of Chemical & Biological Engineering & Research Center for Energy Conversion and Storage, Seoul National University)
Cho, Yoon-Hwan (School of Chemical & Biological Engineering & Research Center for Energy Conversion and Storage, Seoul National University)
Chu, Chong-Nam (School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University)
Sung, Yung-Eun (School of Chemical & Biological Engineering & Research Center for Energy Conversion and Storage, Seoul National University)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society / v.12, no.1, 2009 , pp. 61-67 More about this Journal
Abstract
Flow-field design has much influence over the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) because it affects the pressure magnitude and distribution of the reactant gases. To obtain the pressure magnitude and distribution of reactant gases in five kinds of flow-field designs, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed. After the CFD analysis, a single cell test was carried out to obtain the performance values. As expected, the pressure differences due to different flow-field configurations were related to the PEMFC performance because the actual performance results showed the same tendency as the results of the CFD analysis. A large pressure drop resulted in high PEMFC performance. The single serpentine configuration gave the highest performance because of the high pressure difference magnitudes of the inlet/outlet. On the other hand, the parallel flow-field configuration gave the lowest performance because the pressure difference between inlet and outlet was the lowest.
Keywords
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell; Computational fluid dynamics; Flow-field;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 C. H. Cheng, K. Fei, and C. W. Hong, 'Computer simulation of hydrogen proton exchange membrane and direct methanol fuel cells', Computers & Chemical Engineering, 31, 247 (2007)   DOI   ScienceOn
2 L. Wang and H. Liu, 'Performance studies of PEM fuel cells with interdigitated flow fields', J. Power Sources, 134, 185 (2004)   DOI   ScienceOn
3 S. S. Hsieh, S. H. Yang, J. K. Kuo, C. F. Huang, and H. H. Tsai, 'Study of operational parameters on the performance of micro PEMFCs with different flow fields', Energy conversion & Management, 47, 1868 (2006)   DOI   ScienceOn
4 S. Shimpalee, S. Greenway, and J. W. Van zee, 'The impact of channel path length on PEMFC flow-field design', J. power source, 160, 398 (2006)   DOI   ScienceOn
5 K. Tuber, A. Oedegaard, M Hermann, and C. Hebling, 'Investigation of fractal flow-fields in proton exchange membrane and direct methanol fuel cells', J. power source, 131, 175 (2004)   DOI   ScienceOn
6 X. Zhou, W. Ouyang, C. Liu, T. Lu, W. Xing, and L. An, 'A new flow field and its-two dimension model for polymer electrode membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs)', J. Power Sources, 158, 1209 (2006)   DOI   ScienceOn
7 X. Li and I. Sabir, 'Review of bipolar plates in PEM fuel cells: Flow-field designs', Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 30, 359 (2005)   DOI   ScienceOn
8 A. S. Arico, P. Creti, V. Baglio, E. Modica, and V. Antonucci, 'Influence of flow field design on the performance of a direct methanol fuel cell', J. Power Sources, 91, 202 (2000)   DOI   ScienceOn
9 V. A. Danilov, J. Lim, I. Moon, and H. Chang, 'Threedimensional, two-phase, CFD model for the design of a Adirect methanol fuel cell', J. Power Sources, 162, 992 (2006)   DOI   ScienceOn
10 G. Squadrito, O. Barbera, G. Giacoppo, F. Urbani, and E. Passalacqua, 'Computer aided fuel cell design and scale-up, comparison between medel and experimental results', J. Applied Electrochemistry, 37, 87 (2007)   DOI
11 G. O. Mepsted and J. M. Moore, 'Performance and durability of bipolar plate materials', W. Vielstich, A. Lamm and H. A. Gasteiger (Eds.), 'Handbook of Fuel Cells: Fundamentals Technology and Applications', Vol. 3, 286, John Wiley & Sons, New York (2003)
12 W. M. Yan, C. Y. Chen, C. C. Mei, C. Y. Soong, and F. Chen, 'Effects of operating conditions on cell performance of PEM fuel cells with conventional or interdigitated flow field, J. Power Sources', 162, 1157 (2006)   DOI   ScienceOn
13 Y. -H. Cho, H. -S. Park, Y. -H. Cho, D. -S. Jung, H. -Y. Park, and Y. -E. Sung, 'Effect of platinum amount in carbon supported platinum catalyst on performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell' J. Power Sources 172, 89 (2002)   DOI   ScienceOn
14 R. O'Hayre, S. W. Cha, W. Colella, and F. B. Prinz, 'Fuel Cell Fundamentals', 146-166, John Wiley & Sons, New York (2006)
15 F. Babir, 'PEM Fuel Cells: Theory and Practice', 55, Elsevier Academic Press, Burlington (2005)
16 C. K. Dyer, 'Fuel cells for portable applications', J. Power Sources, 106, 31 (2002)   DOI   ScienceOn
17 A. Heinzel, C. Hebling, M. M$\ddot{u}$ller, M. Zedda, and C. M$\ddot{u}$ller, 'Fuel cell for low power applications', J. Power Sources, 105, 250(2002)   DOI   ScienceOn
18 S. Shimpalee and J. W. Van Zee, 'Numerical studies on rib & channel dimension of flow-field on PEMFC performance', Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 32, 842 (2007)   DOI   ScienceOn