• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2013

The water management is one of the key issues in low operating temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The gas diffusion layer (GDL) allows the reactant gases flow to the reaction sites of the catalyst layer (CL). At high current density, generated water forms droplets because the normal operating temperature is $60{\sim}80^{\circ}C$. If liquid water is not evacuated properly, the pores in the GDL will be blocked and the performance will be reduced severely. In this study, the microchannel GDL was proposed to solve the flooding problem. The liquid water transport through 3-D constructed conventional GDL and microchannel GDL was analyzed varying air velocity, water velocity, and contact angle. The simulation results showed that the liquid water was evacuated rapidly through the microchannel GDL because of the lower flow resistance. Therefore, the microchannel GDL was efficient to remove liquid water in the GDL and gas channels.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.81-84
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• 2006

To investigate the characteristics of water droplet on the gas diffusion layer from both upper-view and side-view of flow channel, a rig test apparatus was designed and fabricated with L-shape acryl plate in a $1mm{\times}1mm$ micro-channel. This experimental device is used to simulate the single droplet growth and its transport process under fuel cell operating condition. As a first step, we investigated the growth and transport of single water droplet with working temperature and air flow velocity. The contact angle and its hysteresis of water droplet at departing moment are measured and analyzed. It is expected that this study can provide the basic understanding of liquid water droplet behavior in gas flow channel and GDL interface during the PEM fuel cell operation.