• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.277-282
• /
• 2010

Durability of automotive polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) strongly depends the startup/shutdown procedure. Formation of hydrogen/air boundary in the anode gas channel, so-called reverse current condition, particularly induces fast degradation of the cathode. Under the reverse current condition, high voltage is present at the cathode facing air in the anode gas channel and is a function of residual oxygen concentration in the gas channels, that increases with storage time and reaches 21% (air) eventually. In this study, effects of residual oxygen concentration in a PEMFC on degradation of the PEMFC.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.646-652
• /
• 2022

The dead-end anode (DEA) system is a method that closes the anode outlet and supplies fuel by pressure. The DEA method could improve fuel usage and power efficiency through system simplification. However, flooding occurs due to water and nitrogen back diffusion from the cathode to the anode during the DEA operation. Flooding is a cause of decreased fuel cell performance and electrode degradation. Therefore, tthe structure and components of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) should be optimized to prevent anode flooding during DEA operation. In this study, the effect of a porous flow field with metal foam on fuel cell performance and fuel efficiency improvement was investigated in the DEA system. As a result, fuel cell performance and purge interval were improved by effective water management with a porous flow field at the cathode, and it was confirmed that cathode flow field structure affects water back-diffusion. On the other hand, the effect of the porous flow field at the anode on fuel cell performance was insignificant. Purge interval was affected by metal foam properties and shown stable performance with large cell size metal foam in the DEA system.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.518-521
• /
• 2011

A PEMFC single cell with the active area of $25cm^2$ was used to verify the effect of water management in the anode. Water management is one of the most critical operating variables. In this paper the effect of operating condition change, such as anode humidification and temperature, was investigated under constant current density of $200mA/cm^2$ where possible anode flooding operating area. Also experiments to observe the effect of the anode and cathode stoichiometry change and flow field design on the water management were performed. The water management was effected by the stoichimetry change. The temperature and humidification change also affected the fuel cell performance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.625-632
• /
• 2012

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the cathode channel flooding effects at different stoichiometries in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells by using visualization techniques. The phenomena of liquid water formation and removal caused by current variations were also examined experimentally. Tests were conducted at cathode stoichiometries of 1.5 and 2.0, and the anode stoichiometry was fixed at 1.5. It is found that at an air-side stoichiometry of 2.0, liquid water begins to form and the flooding occurs faster than at an air-side stoichiometry of 1.5. Also, when the air-side stoichiometry of 1.5 is maintained, the dry-out phenomena is observed in the dry-out area 7.8 A following the field of flooding. Thus, a stoichiometry of 1.5 produced better performance in terms of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) durability and hydrogen ion conductivity than did a stoichiometry of 2.0, in which dry-out occurs beyond 8A.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.96-102
• /
• 2022

Reactants of PEMFC are hydrogen and oxygen in gas phases and fuel cell overpotential could be reduced when reactants are smoothly transported. Numerous studies to modify cathode flow field design have been conducted because oxygen mass transfer in high current density region is dominant voltage loss factor. Among those cathode flow field designs, a block in flow field is used to forced supply reactant gas to porous gas diffusion layer. In this study, the block was installed on a simple fuel cell model. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), effects of forced convection due to blocks on a polarization curve and local current density contour were studied when different air flow rates were supplied. The high current density could be achieved even with low air supply rate due to forced convection to a gas diffusion layer and also with multiple blocks in series compared to a single block due to an increase of forced convection effect.

• New & Renewable Energy
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.18-25
• /
• 2009

PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) is a low temperature fuel cells which are high efficient and clean energy. But it has many problems like economical efficiency or durability. Because of this reason, many researchers challenge various view points. One of challenge is the flow channel design and many researchers develop new flow channel design. In addition to most of them have the anode and cathode's flow channel overlapped almost perfectly. In this case, the electrochemical reaction is almost done by the inertial force of flow. So we study on the effect of the anode and cathode's flow channel which aren't overlapped perfectly, have more diffusion effect, to PEMFC performance using CFD.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.11a
• /
• pp.372-375
• /
• 2006

SOFC is a high temperature fuelcell with many advantages, but it also have several demerits. One of the Issues is cathode poisoning of Cr coming from stainless steel interconnects. Diffusion process of Cr evaporated from the surface of interconnect steel was calculated by using CFD technique to understand factors for Cr deposition. It has been cleared that factors concerned in Cr deposition and how they affect Cr deposition. Major variables for Cr deposit ion are diffusion coefficient, air velocity and temperature If diffusion coefficient decreases, Cr concentration increases in the air but decreases on the cathode surface. Increasing in air velocity, Cr concentration decreases in the air and on the cathode surface. Increase in temperature leads to rising Cr concentration on the cathode surface because of diffusion coefficient increment.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.11a
• /
• pp.101-104
• /
• 2006

Water management is considered to be one of the main issues to be addressed for the performance improvement of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. For good water management, the detailed information on the water distribution inside an operating PEM fuel cell should be available to main an adequate level of hydration in the PEM While avoiding performance decline due to liquid rater flooding. For the PEM fuel cell to be commercially viable as vehicle applications, the flooding on the cathode side should be minimized during the fuel ceil operation. In this study to investigate cathode flooding and its relation with temperature distribution in flow channels, visualization study was performed on the cathode side of a PEM fuel cell. For the direct visualization of temperature field and water transport in cathode flow channels, a transparent cell was designed and manufactured using quartz window. Water transport and its two-phase flow characteristics in flow channels were investigated experimentally. Also, the visualization of temperature distribution In cathode flow channels was made by using IR camera. Results indicated that the temperature rise near the exit of cathode flow channel was found. It is found that this area corresponds to the flooding area from both temperature and flooding visualization results It is expected that this study can effectively contribute to get the detailed data on water transport linked with heat management during the operation of a PEM fuel cell

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
• /
• 2008.04a
• /
• pp.101-108
• /
• 2008

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are promising power generation devices which are ideal for residential and automobile applications, thanks to their fast transient characteristics. However, liquid water produced in PEM fuel cells should be properly managed to enhance the performances and durabilities of the cells. In this study, a visualization experiment was conducted to investigate the flow behavior of water droplets in cathode channels. The visualization experiment was done with four different model flow channels which were made by varying the material (Acrylic and Teflon) and the channel width (1 mm and 2 mm). Acrylic is hydrophilic (contact angle is about $80^{\circ}$) while Teflon is hydrophobic (contact angle is about $120^{\circ}$). A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was also performed to compare the observed and the simulated two-phase water/air flow characteristics in cathode channels. The computational models were made to be consistent with the geometries and surface properties of the model flow channels. Both the experimental and numerical results showed that the Teflon cathode channel with 1 mm width has the best water management performance among four model flow channels considered. A close correlation was found between the experimental visualization results and the numerical CFD simulation results.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.326-329
• /
• 2005

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) should be sufficiently hydrated with proper water management to maintain a good ionic conductivity and performance of a PEM fuel cell. However. cathode flooding resulting from excess water can impede the transport of reactants and hence deteriorate the fuel cell performance. For the PEM fuel cell to be commercially viable as vehicle or portable applications, the flooding on the cathode side should be minimized during the fuel cell operation. In this study, visualization technique was applied to understand the cathode flooding phenomena on the cathode side of a PEM fuel cell. To this end. a transparent PEM unit fuel cell wi th an act ive area of $25cm^2$ was designed and manufactured to allow for the visualization of cathode channel with performance characteristics. Two-phase flow resulting from the electro-chemical reaction of fuel cell was investigated experimentally. The images photographed by CCD camera with cell operating temperatures $(30\~50^{\circ}C)$ were presented. Results indicated that the flooding on the cathode side first occurs near the exit of cathode channel. As the operating temperature of fuel cell increases. it was found that liquid water droplets tend to evaporate easily and it can have an influence on lowering the flooding level. It is expected that this study can effectively contribute to the detailed researches on modeling water transport of an operating PEM fuel cell including two-phase flow phenomena.