• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.539-542
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• 2007

The transient response of PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) is important criteria in the application of PEM fuel cell to real automotive system. In this work, using a transparent unit PEM fuel cell, the transient response and cathode flooding during load change are investigated. The cell voltage is acquired according to the current density change($0.3Acm^2$ to $0.6A/cm^2$) under various stoichiometry conditions and different flooding intensities, Also the cathode gas channel images are obtained by CCD imaging system simultaneously. The different level of undershoots appeared at the moment of load changes under different cathode stoichiometries and flooding intensities. The correlation of the dynamic behavior with stoichiometry and cathode flooding is induced from the results of these experiments.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.390-396
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• 2009

The flooding, especially in channel, is one of the critical issue to put proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) to practical use. In this paper, channel flooding was investigated the pressure difference at cathode channel outlet. A ratio of pressure difference changes to 25, 50% as its variation rate. The pressure variable rate is reflected in dimensionless number FN. As a result, modified dimensionless number $FN^*$ correctly predicted the channel flooding. This study analyzes that a variety of pressure difference is how to affect flooding at the cathode of the PEMFC.

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

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.3 no.2 s.10
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• pp.24-30
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• 2007

The transient response of PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) is important criteria in the application of PEM fuel cell to real automotive system. In this work, using a transparent unit PEM fuel cell, the transient response and cathode flooding during load change are investigated. The cell voltage is acquired according to the current density change($0.3Acm^2$ to $0.6A/cm^2$) under various stoichiometry conditions and different flooding intensities, Also the cathode gas channel images are obtained by CCD imaging system simultaneously. The different level of undershoots appeared at the moment of load changes under different cathode stoichiometries and flooding intensities. It takes about 1s that the product water comes up onto the flow channel so that oxygen supply is temporarily blocked which causes voltage loss in that "undershoot". The correlation of the dynamic behavior with stoichiometry and cathode flooding is induced from the results of these experiments.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.5 s.248
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• pp.489-495
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• 2006

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) should be sufficiently hydrated with a careful consideration of heat and water management. Water management has been a critical operation issue for better understanding the operation and optimizing the performance of a PEM fuel cell. The flooding on cathode side resulting from excess water can limit the fuel cell performance. In this study, the visual cell was designed and fabricated fur the visualization of liquid water droplet dynamics related to cathode flooding in flow channels. The experiment was carried out to observe the formation, growth and removal of water droplets using CCD imaging system. Effects of operating conditions such as cell temperature, air flow rate and air relative humidity on cathode flooding characteristics were mainly investigated. Based on this study, we can get the basic insight into flooding phenomena and its two-phase flow nature. It is expected that data obtained can be effectively used fur the setup and validation of two-phase PEM fuel cell models considering cathode flooding.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.119-126
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• 2007

Because of the low temperature operation, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell has a water phase transition. Therefore, water management is an important operation issue in a PEM fuel cell because the liquid water in the fuel cell causes electrode flooding that can lower the cell performance under high current density conditions. In this study, in order to understand the reactant distributions in the cathode channels of the PEM fuel cell, an experimental technique that can measure the species concentrations of reactant gases by using gas chromatograph (GC) is applied for an operating PEM fuel cell. The oxygen distribution along the cathode flow channels of PEM fuel cell is mainly investigated with various operating conditions. Also, the relations between cathode flooding and oxygen concentrations and oxygen consumption pattern along the cathode channel configurations of the unit cell adopted for this study are discussed using GC measurement and visualization experiment of cathode flooding. It is found that the amount of oxygen consumption is very sensitive to various operating conditions of the fuel cell and was much affected by the flooding occurrence in cathode channels.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.101-104
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• 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 KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.2385-2389
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• 2008

This is the experimental research that tries to explain a variety of RH is how to affect the cell performance and the flooding phenomenon of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). A value of PH changes to 0%, 50% and 90% as its variation, either stoichiometric flow rate changes to 1.5, 2 and 4. Into the comparison between theoretical and experimental value, this study analyzes that a variety of PH is how 10 affect flooding in the cathode of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell. The effect of air stoichiometry, air humidity and different flow fields are also discussed in this paper This study has accomplished the measurement of performance as the variety of RH in the cathode of proton exchange membrane fuel cell, moreover it has recorded the visualization of flooding in the cathode with a high-speed micro camera.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.148-154
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• 2009

With respect to the durability of large scale ($150cm^2$) membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), degradation phenomena at cathode is monitored and analyzed according to the position on the cathode surface. After constant current mode operation of large scale MEA for 500 hr, the MEA is divided into three parts along the cathode channel; (close to) inlet, middle, and (close to) outlet. The performance of each MEA is tested and it is revealed that the MEA from the cathode outlet of large MEA shows the worst performance. This is due to the catalyst degradation and GDL delamination caused by flooding at cathode outlet of large MEA during the 500 hr operation. Particularly on the catalyst degradation, the loss of electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) of catalyst gets worse along the cathode channel from inlet to outlet, of which the reason is believed to be loss of catalysts by dissolution and migration rather than their agglomeration. The extent of loss in the performance and catalyst degradation has strong relation to the cathode flooding and it is required to develop proper water management techniques and separator channel design to control the flooding.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.384-387
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• 2005

Fuel cell has been well known as a clean alternative power for vehicles. Recently, an experimental technique has been developed measurement of species and distributions by using gas chromatograph. In this study, cathode channel oxygen distributions as various conditions were investigated using gas chromatograph and cell visualization. And discussed relation between flooding and oxygen concentrations. As a result of experiment, oxygen consumpt ion is affected wi th flooding. Flooding is observed in channel near hydrogen inlet, and oxygen consumption is low at that region.