• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.885-891
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• 2010

Thermal management is important for enhancing the performance and durability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and is taken into account in the design of PEMFCs. In general, cooling pates with circulating liquid coolant (water) are inserted between several unit cells to exhaust the reaction heat from PEMFCs. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed to characterize the uniform cooling performance of parallel multipass serpentine flow fields (MPSFFs) that were used as coolant flow channels in PEMFCs. The cooling performances of conventional serpentine and parallel flow fields were also evaluated for the purpose of comparison. The CFD results showed that the use of parallel MPSFFs can help reduce the temperature nonuniformity, and thus, can favorably enhance the performance and durability of PEMFCs.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.667-673
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• 2009

The electrocatalytic characteristics of oxygen reduction reaction of the $PtxM_{(1-x)}$ (M = Co, Cu, Ni) supported on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been evaluated in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). The $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$/MWNTs catalysts with a Pt : M atomic ratio of about 3 : 1 were synthesized and applied to the cathode of PEMFC. The crystalline structure and morphology images of the $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$ particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. The results showed that the crystalline structure of the Pt alloy particles in Pt/MWNTs and $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$/MWNTs catalysts are seen as FCC, and synthesized $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$ crystals have lattice parameters smaller than the pure Pt crystal. According to the electrochemical surface area (ESA) calculated with cyclic voltammetry analysis, $Pt_{0.77}Co_{0.23}$/MWNTs catalyst has higher ESA than the other catalysts. The evaluation of a unit cell test using Pt/MWNTs or $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$/MWNTs as the cathode catalysts demonstrated higher cell performance than did a commercial Pt/C catalyst. Among the MWNTs-supported Pt and $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$ (M = Co, Cu, Ni) catalysts, the $Pt_{0.77}Co_{0.23}$/MWNTs shows the highest performance with the cathode catalyst of PEMFC because they had the largest ESA.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.127-136
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• 2023

In this study, the electrochemical performance of a 5-layer fuel cell stack using silica composite membranes as polymer electrolyte membranes was evaluated. It was observed that the flow rate of the fuel gases plays a crucial role in stack performance, particularly being mainly dependent on the flow rate of hydrogen. Increasing the flow rate of oxygen resulted in negligible changes in performance, whereas an increase in the flow rate of hydrogen demonstrated performance improvements. However, this led to an imbalance in the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen flow rates, causing significant degradation in stack performance and durability. A decline in stack performance was also observed over time due to the degradation of stack components. This phenomenon was consistently observed in individual unit cells. Based on these findings, it was emphasized that, in addition to optimizing the performance of each component during stack operation, it is important to optimize design and operating conditions for uniform flow rate control. Lastly, the developed silica composite membrane was assessed to have sufficient performance for application in actual fuel cell systems, exhibiting a performance of over 25 W based on maximum power.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.107-114
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• 2017

The performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) could be deteriorated when fuel contains contaminants such as carbon monoxide (CO) or hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$). Generally, $H_2S$ is introduced in hydrogen by steam reforming of hydrocarbon which has mercaptan as odorant. $H_2S$ poisoning effect on PEMFC performance was examined on this study. Pure hydrogen injection, voltage cycling and water circulation methods were compared as performance recovery methods. The PEMFC performance was analyzed using electrochemical methods such as polarization curve, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Pure hydrogen injection and voltage cycling methods showed low recovery ratio, however, water circulation method showed high recovery ratio over 95%. Because anode was directly poisoned by $H_2S$, anode water circulation showed higher recovery ratio compared to the other methods. Water circulation method was developed to recover PEMFC performance from $H_2S$ poisoning. This method could contribute to PEMFC durability and commercialization.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 2006

Nafion/poly(ether(amino sulfone)) acid-base blend polymer electrolyte membranes were prepared and their proton conductivity and dimethyl ether permeability were investigated. Characteristics of direct dimethyl ether fuel cell (DDMEFC) performance using prepared blend membrane were studied. The increase of amine groups in the base polymer in composite membranes resulted in the decrease in dimethyl ether permeability. The proton conductivity of the blend membranes gradually increased as increasing temperature. The conductivity of Nafion/PEAS-0.6 (85:15) blend membranes was measured to be $1.42\times10^{-2}S/cm\;at\;120^{\circ}C$ which was higher than that of the recast Nafion. The performance of direct dimethyl ether fuel cell (DDMEFC) using the Nafion/PEAS blend membranes was higher than that using $Nafion^(R)115$ membrane. Enhanced performance of direct dimethyl ether fuel cells using Nafion/PEAS blend membrane was explained by reducing dimethyl ether (DME) crossover through the electrolyte membrane and maintenance of the proton conductivity at high temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.180-184
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• 2005

An experimental study is performed to evaluate the performance and the efficiency by humidifying MEA and by making the double-tied catalyst layers in a fuel cell system which is taken into account the physical and thermal concept. An electrical output produced by PEFC(polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell) is measured to assess the performance of the stack and the efficiency is also evaluated according to the different situation in which is placed with and without the humidification of MEA (Membrane Electrolyte Assembly). Subsequently, It is found that the measured values of stack voltage and current are influenced by the stack temperature, humidification, and the double-tied catalyst layers which gives more enhanced values to apply for electric units.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07d
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• pp.1876-1878
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• 1999

Developed was a 5kW-class polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) system comprised of fuel cell stack, fuel processing, thermal and water management subsystems and ancillary equipments. Several large single cells have been fabricated with different gas flow field patterns and paths, and the gas flow field pattern for the stack has been determined based on the single cell performance of thin film membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The PEMFC stack was consisted of 100 cells with an electrode area of $300cm^2$, having serpentine flow pattern. Fuel processing was developed including an autothermal methanol reformer and two preferential CO oxidation reactors. The fuel processing was combined to PEMFC operation system consisted of air compressor and thermal and water management subsystems. The PEMFC stack showed performance of 5kW under the supply of $H_2$ and air, but its performance was lowered to 3.5kW under the supply of reformed gas.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.125.1-125.1
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• 2010

A high efficiency polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack was developed for pressurized pure hydrogen and oxygen supplying conditions. The design objective for the cell stack was to maximize the electric efficiency and to minimize exhaust-gas emissions from it simultaneously. To achieve this objective, the cell stack was designed to use pure hydrogen and oxygen as fuel and oxidant, respectively, and to be operated under high gas inlet pressures and in a stage-wise dead-end operation mode. Major components constituting the cell stack, such as membrane electrode assembly, bipolar-plate, and gasket, have been developed to meet a target durability even in severe operating conditions: high gas inlet pressures and usage of pure oxygen. A high-power fuel cell stack was assembled using these components to verify the performance. The cell stack showed a good performance in terms of the efficiency and maximum power output.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.254-261
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• 2002

The fabrication method for the main components of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stack such as electrodes, membrane-electrode assemblies, and bipolar plates was established for the effective electrode area of 240 ㎠. A counter-flow type 100-cell stack was fabricated by using the above components and then a maximum power of 7.44 kW for H$_2$/O$_2$ and 5.56 kW for H$_2$/air could be obtained at 70$\^{C}$ and 1 atm. It was seen that the distribution of the OCV for unit cells in the stack was uniform but the voltage deviation increased as the load increased due to the IR drop and the electrode polarization. The stack was applied to the power source of the fuel cell/battery hybrid electric golf car. It produced about 1 kW at a room temperature operation during the test run, which occupied about 43% of the total power required by the 2.3 kW motor.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2005

In this study, carbon composites were prepared using carbon graphite, thermoset resin, and carbon black. Oxygen permeability was measured using the continuous flow gas permeation analyzer as a function of composition and processing conditions. The experimental results showed that the oxygen permeability increased as the carbon black content increased, whereas the oxygen permeability decreased as the pressing time increased. The oxygen permeability was not affected by the processing pressure.