• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.90.1-90.1
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• 2010

The design and fabrication of a metallic bipolar plate-gasket assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFCs) is defined. This bipolar plate-gasket assembly was prepared by inserting a previously prepared bipolar plate in the specially designed gasket mold. For this aim, a proprietary fluoro-silicone based rubber was injected directly into the bipolar plate borders. Gaskets obtained like this showed the chemically / physically stable and the good sealibilty in typically operating PEM fuel cell conditions. And also, this bipolar plate-gasket assembly shows lots of advantages with respect to traditional PEMFCs stack assembling systems: useful application to automative stacking due to easy handling, reduced fabrication time, possibility of quality control and failed elements substitution. This bipolar plate-gasket assembly was evaluated in the short fuel cell stack and met the leakage requirement for normal operation both in short-term and in long-term operation. Especially, it was confirmed that this gasket could be applied successfully even in the high pressure FEM fuel cell systems(over 2.0 bar in absolute pressure).

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.409-414
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• 2011

To promote the industry of PEMFC, the commercialization of its parts especially bipolar plate is needed. The bipolar plate is one of key parts for PEMFC, which occupies cost portion of 5~8% in the system. To replace the bipolar plate of machined graphite highly costly, the stamped thin matal or the molded carbon composite has been developed. According to the merits and demerits of each material and its forming process, the stamped metallic plate has been considered to the bipolar plate of PEMFC for automotive, and on the other hand, the molded composite plate has been considered to one for building applications. Hankook Tire Co., Ltd. has developed the carbon composite material and the manufacturing process for the bipolar plates. The developed bipolar plates were proved to be fully applicable to PEMFC of building applications in characteristics and performance, and so government strategic project to develop the mass-production technology for bipolar plates was started and is being conducted by the company. Through the government project for obtaining both the commercialization technology and production capacity for the bipolar plates, the price and the performance of domestic PEMFCs are expected to become competitive in international market.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.134-142
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• 2012

A bipolar plate is a major component of a fuel cell stack, which occupies 50~60% of the total weight and over 50% of the total cost of a typical fuel cell stack. In this study, a composite bipolar plate is designed and fabricated to develop a compact and light-weight direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) stack for a small-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) application. The composite bipolar plates for DMFCs are prepared by a compression molding method using resole type phenol resin as a binder and natural graphite and carbon black as a conductor filler and tested in terms of electrical conductivity, mechanical strength and hydrogen permeability. The flexural strength of 63 MPa and the in-plane electrical conductivities of 191 S $cm^{-1}$ are achieved under the optimum bipolar plate composition of phenol : 18%; natural graphite : 82%; carbon black : 3%, indicating that the composite bipolar plates exhibit sufficient mechanical strength, electrical conductivity and hydrogen permeability to be applied in a DMFC stack. A DMFC with the composite bipolar plate is tested and shows a similar cell performance with a conventional DMFC with graphite-based bipolar plate.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.99-102
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• 2006

Optimal flow-field design of bipolar-plates for a commercial class PEM(polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cell stack was carried out on the basis of three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulation. A three-dimensional CFD model originally developed by Shimpalee et al., has been utilized for performing large-scale simulation of a single fuel cell consisting of bipolar-plates gas diffusion layers, and a membrane-electrode-assembly(MEA). The CFD model is able to predict the current density, pressure drops, gas velocities, vapor and liquid water contents, temperature distributions, etc. inside a single fuel cell. Depending on simulation results from the CFD modeling of a PEM fuel cell, several flow-fields of bipolar-plates were designed and verified. The final design of the bipolar-plate has been chosen from the simulations and experimental tests and showed the best performance as expected from the simulation results under a normal operating condition. Thus, the CFD simulation approach to design the optimal flow-field of the bipolar-plates was successful. The final design was adopted as the best flow-field to build a commercial scale PEM fuel cell stack, the performance of which shows about 42% higher than that of the older bipolar-plate design.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.3-7
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• 2007

Graphite/polymer composite bipolar plates for PEMFC are successfully developed, and their typical properties are superior to commercially available ones. Thermal property of the developed bipolar plate was evaluated by dynamic mechanical analyzer, and the results were compared to commercial ones. The specimens were immersed into the deionized water bath at $80^{\circ}$... for 1500hrs to evaluate dimensional stability and durability. Dimension, weight of the specimens as well as extraction conductivity was measured as each 500hrs. Fully molded bipolar plates without any machining or milling were also prepared using a specially developed mold, and they were applied to the fuel cell performance test. Results were compared to the machined commercial bipolar plate.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.5-7
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• 2007

Graphite/polymer composite bipolar plates for PEMFC are successfully developed, and their typical properties are superior to commercially available ones. Thermal property of the developed bipolar plate was evaluated by dynamic mechanical analyzer, and the results were compared to commercial ones. The specimens were immersed into the deionized water bath at $80^{\circ}C$ for 1500hrs to evaluate dimensional stability and durability. Dimension, weight of the specimens as well as extraction conductivity was measured as each 500hrs. Fully molded bipolar plates without any machining or milling were also prepared using a specially developed mold, and they were applied to the fuel cell performance test. Results were compared to the machined commercial bipolar plate.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.389-391
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• 2009

The performance loss as pressurized by inside components like GDL and bipolar plate happened when assembling the PEMFC stack with clamping force. Numerical analysis of Gasket was carried out to analyze distribution of clamping pressure about the inside components. In case of the gasket, Mooney-Rivlin model which is the Strain Energy Function was used for numerical analysis. This result made the stress distribution of bipolar plate to expect.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.320-323
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• 2006

A numerical study is made of a manifold and bipolar plate in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, the aim of the present study is to describe the characteristics of flow pattern In manifold and bipolar plate. The present work shows that the flow pattern in the bipolar plate is affected by the penetration flow through GDL characterized by clamping pressure and GDL intrusion in to a channel area. Manifold geometry also affects the flow distribution. The recirculation flow by bent duct destroy even distribution In manifold, the present work shows that corner rounding can improve the manifold performance.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.133-142
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• 2022

This paper reviews bipolar plate materials and coatings for polymer electrolyte fuel cell. First, six roles and 10 requirements of the bipolar plate are described in detail. Secondly, type of materials for the bipolar plate and their advantages and disadvantages are mentioned. Thirdly, different metallic materials are introduced in terms of electrical and thermal conductivities, corrosion resistance, weight, strength and cost. Finally, various types of coating materials and methods were briefly reviewed.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2013

Polymer exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells have multifunctional properties, and bipolar plates are one of the key components in these fuel cells. Generally, a bipolar plate has a gas flow path for hydrogen and oxygen liberated at the anode and cathode, respectively. In this study, the influence of iodine applied to a bipolar plate was investigated. Accordingly, we compared bipolar plates with and without iodine coating, and the performances of these plates were evaluated under operating conditions of $75^{\circ}C$ and 100% relative humidity. The membrane and platinum-carbon layer were affected by the iodine-coated bipolar plate. Bipolar plates coated with iodine and a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) were investigated by electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. Polarization curves showed that the performance of a coated bipolar plate is approximately 19% higher than that of a plate without coating. Moreover, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis revealed that charge transfer resistance and membrane resistance decreased with the influence of the iodine charge transfer complex for fuel cells on the performance.