• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.170-177
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• 2006

Optimum design of flow channel in the separation plate of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell is very prerequisite to reduce concentration over potential at high current region and remove the water generated in cathode effectively. In this paper, fully 3 dimensional computational model which solves anode and cathode flow fields simultaneously is developed in order to compare the performance of fuel cell with parallel and interdigitated flow channels. Oxygen and water concentration and pressure drop are calculated and i-V performance characteristics are compared between flows with two flow channels. Results show that performance of fuel cell with interdigitated flow channel is hi민or than that with parallel flow channel at high current region because hydrogen and oxygen in interdigitated flow channel are transported to catalyst layer effectively due to strong convective transport through gas diffusion layer but pressure drop is larger than that in parallel flow channel. Therefore Trade-off between power gain and pressure loss should be considered in design of fuel cell with interdigitated flow channel.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.2 no.4 s.8
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• pp.78-85
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• 2006

Selection of flow channel in the separation plate of PEMFC is very important parameter to improve its performance and reduce parasite loss. Flow patterns in the channel have great influence on the transport of hydrogen and air and removal of water generated from electrochemical reaction in diffusion layer. In this study. fluid flow in flow channel with parallel and interdigitated patterns are simulated three dimensionally on full flow domain including anode and cathode channel together. The numerical results show that the fuel cell with interdigitated flow channel represents better performance than that with parallel flow channel due to its strong convective transport across the gas diffusion layer. But the pressure drop in parallel flow channel is much more than that in interdigitated flow channel. And effects of temperature and stoichiometric number on performance can be calculated and analyzed as well. Nomenclature.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.761-769
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• 2007

The configuration of the flow channel on a bipolar plate of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) for efficient reactant supply has great influence on the performance of the fuel cell. Recent demand for higher energy density fuel cells requires an increase in current density at mid voltage range and a decrease in concentration overvoltage at high current density. Therefore, an interdigitated flow channel where mass transfer rate by convection through a gas diffusion layer is greater than the mass transfer by a diffusion mechanism through a gas diffusion layer was recently proposed. This study attempts to analyze the i-V performance, mass transfer and pressure drop in interdigitated flow channels by developing a fully three dimensional simulation model for PEMFC that can deal with anode and cathode flow together. The results indicate that the trade off between performance and pressure loss should be considered for efficient design of flow channels. Although the performance of the fuel cell with interdigitated flow is better than that with conventional flow channels due to a strong mass transfer rate by convection across a gas diffusion layer, there is also an increase in friction due to the strong convection through the porous diffusion layer accompanied by a larger pressure drop along the flow channel. It was evident that the proper selection of the ratio of channel and rib width under counter flow conditions in the fuel cell with interdigitated flow are necessary to optimize the interdigitated flow field design.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.407-410
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• 2006

Selection of flow channel in the separation plate of PEMFC is very important parameter to improve its performance and reduce parasite loss. Flow patterns in the channel have great influence on the transport of hydrogen and all and water generated from electrochemical reaction in diffusion layer In this study, fluid flow in flow channel with parallel and interdigitated patterns are simulated three dimensionally on full flow domain including anode and cathode electrode together. The numerical results show that the fuel cell with interdigitated flow channel represents better performance than that with parallel flow channel due to its strong convective transport across the gas diffusion layer. But the pressure drop in parallel flow channel is much more than that in nterdigitated flow channel. The effect of temperature and stoichiometric number on performance can be calculated and analyzed as well.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.193-200
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• 2014

Research on flow channel designs of the separate plates is necessary to improve the PEMFC performance. On concerning the performance improvement of PEMFC, many recent studies have been made on the interdigitated flow channel using forced convection. In this paper, the interdigitated flow channel is similarly applied on the parallel flow channel with a baffle or baffles. Numerical analysis is performed by using a commercial multiphysics program, which is called COMSOL, on the parallel channel with the fully blocked baffle(FBB) and there are three variables, the position of baffle, flow direction and flow velocity. Each power of the variables is resulted from the fixed 0.5V, the voltage from 80 percents of the maximum power. Finally, based on the full factorial designs(FFD), one of the design of experiments(DOE), each factor which has several levels lead to the conclusion. The analysis of the main effects and interactions of the factors is useful to find the most influenced factor to improve the power.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3440-3445
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• 2007

For proton exchange membrane fuel cell, it is very important to design the flow channel on separation plate optimally to maximize the current density at same electrochemical reaction surface and reduce the concentration polarization occurred at high current density. In this paper, three dimensional computation model including anode and cathode domain together was developed to examine effects of flow patterns and operation conditions such as humidity and operating temperature on performance of fuel cell. Results show that voltage at counter flow condition is higher than that at coflow condition in parallel and interdigitated flow pattern. And fuel cell with interdigitated flow pattern which has better mass transport by convection flow through gas diffusion layer has higher performance than with parallel flow pattern but its pressure drop is increased such that the trade off between performance and pressure drop should be considered for selection of flow pattern of fuel cell.