• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.359-366
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• 2008

A two-dimensional thermal model of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with large active area is developed to investigate the performance of fuel cell with large active area over various thermal management conditions. The core sub-models of the two-dimensional thermal model are one-dimensional agglomerate structure electrochemical reaction model, one-dimensional water transport model, and a two-dimensional heat transfer model. Prior to carrying out the simulation, this study is contributed to set up the operating temperature of the fuel cell with large active area which is a maximum temperature inside the fuel cell considering durability of membrane electrolyte. The simulation results show that the operating temperature of the fuel cell and temperature distribution inside the fuel cell can affect significantly the total net power at extreme conditions. Results also show that the parasitic losses of balance of plant component should be precisely controlled to produce the maximum system power with minimum parasitic loss of thermal management system.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.213-227
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• 2020

As unrenewable energy resources have depleted over the years, the demand for renewable energy has increased promoting research for more effective methods to produce renewable energy. The field of fuel cell development, specifically microbial fuel cells (MFCs), has developed because of the dual performance potential of the technology. MFCs convert power by facilitating electrode-reducing organisms such as bacteria (microbes) as a catalyst to produce electrical energy. MFCs use domestic and industrial wastewater as fuel to initiate the process, purifying the wastewater as a result. Proton exchange membranes (PEM) play a crucial role in MFCs as a separator between the anodes and cathodes chambers allowing only protons to effectively pass through. Nafion is the commercially used PEM for MFCs, but there are many setbacks: such as cost, production time, and less effective proton conductivity properties. In this review there will be largely two parts. Firstly, several newly developed PEM are discussed as possible replacements of Nafion. Secondly, MFC based on PEM, blended PEM and composite PEM are summarized.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.17-22
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• 2014

The design of a fuel cells stack is important to get optimal output power. This study focuses on the evaluation of fuel cell system for unmaned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Low temperature proton exchange membrane (LTPEM) fuel cells are the most promising energy source for the robot applications because of their unique advantages such as high energy density, cold startup, and quick response during operation. In this paper, a 600 W open cathode LTPEM fuel cell was tested to evaluate the performance and to determine optimal operating conditions. The open cathode design reduces the overall size of the system to meet the requirement for robotic application. The cruise power requirement of 600 W was supported entirely by the fuel cell while the additional power requirements during takeoff was extended using a battery. A peak of power of 900 W is possible for 10 mins with a lithium polymer (LiPo) battery. The system was evaluated under various load cycles as well as start-stop cycles. The system response from no load to full load meets the robot platform requirement. The total weigh of the stack was 2 kg, while the overall system, including the fuel processing system and battery, was 4 kg.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of IIIuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.288-291
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• 2005

This paper is aimed at presenting a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack. The fuel cell electrical output voltage and current (V-I) characteristic is described for the first time by a simplified closed form suitable. The characteristics obtained from the simulation are compared with the experimental results on a Ballard commercial fuel cell stack as well as to the manufacturer given data.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.159-165
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• 2004

Fuel cell makes electricity through chemical reaction. Bipolar-plate distribute hydrogen, oxidation using channel geometry condensation of water vapor inside channels of bipolar-plates lowers efficiency of fuel cell. Usually high pressured gas supply is used to solve the water condensation problem with serpentine type channel geometry. In this study, a new channel geometry shows feasible to minimize lowering efficiency due to water condensation through numerical and experimental analysis.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.781-784
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• 2005

This paper is aimed at presenting a proton exchange membrane ( PEM ) fuel cell stack. The fuel cell electrical output voltage and current (V-I) characteristic is described for the first time by a simplified closed form suitable. The characteristics obtained from the simulation are compared with the experimental results on a Ballard commercial fuel cell stack as well as to the manufacturer given data.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1201-1208
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• 2002

A numerical flow-field analysis is performed to investigate flow configurations in the anode, cathode and cooling channels on the bipolar plates of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Continuous open-faced flow channels are formed on the bipolar plate surface to supply hydrogen, air and water. In this analysis, two types of channel pattern are considered: serpentine and spiral. The averaged pressure distribution and velocity profiles of the hydrogen, air and water channels are calculated by two-dimensional flow-field analysis. The equations for the conservation of mass and momentum in the two-dimensional fluid flow analysis are slightly modified to include the characteristics of the PEMFC. The analysis results indicate that the serpentine flow-fields are locally unstable (because two channels are cross at right angles). The spiral flow-fields has more stable than the serpentine, due to rotational fluid-flow inertia forces. From this study, the spiral channel pattern is suggested for a channel pattern of the bipolar plate of the PEMFC to obtain better performance.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.292-300
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• 2007

A dynamic system model of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) has been developed. The PEMFC of this study has large active area with water cooling in order to simulate the performance of the commercially viable PEMFC system for the transportation. A PEMFC stack model is a transient thermal model which is respond to the dynamic change of the coolant temperature and the flow rate. The dynamic cooling system model has been developed to determine the coolant flow rate and the coolant temperature. Prior to the system level study, thermal management criteria have been set up and brought to the control command of the cooling system. Since the system model is designed to evaluate the effect of thermal management on the system performance, it is attempted to determine the proper control algorithm of the cooling system so that the PEMFC system is working on the thermal management criteria. As a result of simulation, feedback controlled cooling system consumes less power and produce more power comparing with that of conventionally controlled cooling system.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.81.1-81.1
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• 2011

High temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) has been regarded as a promising clean energy sources. In this study, a quasi-three-dimensional dynamic model of HT-PEMFC has been developed and the local dynamic characteristics are investigated. The model has the geometrical simplification of 2+1D reduction (quasi-3D). The one-dimensional model consists of nine control volumes in cross-sectional direction to solve the energy conservation and the species conservation equations. Then, the one-dimensional model is discretized into 25 local sections along the gas flow direction to account for gas and thermal transport in channels. With this discretization, the local characteristics of HT-PEMFC such as species conservation, temperature, and current density can be captured. In order to study the basic characteristics of HT-PEMFC, it is important to investigate the local dynamic characteristics. Thus, the model is simulated at various operating conditions and the local dynamic characteristics related to them are observed. The model is useful to investigate the distribution of HT-PEMFC characteristics and the physical phenomena in HT-PEMFC.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.279-284
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• 2021

In this study, the performance and distribution of fluid concentration, pressure, and current density of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell was investigated. In this paper, the two different types of flow field design were compared, singel channel and 5-channels. As a result, the 5-channels of flow field showed the better performance than that of single chanel. Especially, the single channel showed better performance in terms of mass transfer loss area.