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Numerical Simulation on Cooling Plates in a Fuel Cell  

Kim, Yoon-Ho (Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University)
Lee, Yong-Taek (Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University)
Lee, Kyu-Jung (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University)
Kim, Yong-Chan (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University)
Choi, Jong-Min (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanbat National University)
Ko, Jang-Myoun (Division of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology, Hanbat National University)
Publication Information
Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering / v.19, no.1, 2007 , pp. 86-93 More about this Journal
Abstract
The PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cell is one of the promising fuel cell systems as a new small power generating device for automobiles and buildings. The optimal design of cooling plates installed between MEA (membrane electrode assembly) is very important to achieve high performance and reliability of the PEMFC because it is very sensitive to temperature variations. In this study, six types of cooling plate models for the PEMFC including basic serpentine and parallel shapes were designed and their cooling performances were analyzed by using three-dimensional fluid dynamics with commercial software. The model 3 designed by revising the basic serpentine model represented the best cooling performance among them in the aspect of uniformity of temperature distribution and thermal reliability, The serpentine models showed higher pressure drop than the parallel models due to a higher flow rate.
Keywords
Fuel cell; Cooling plate; Flow-field configuration; Computational fluid dynamics;
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