• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.197-202
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• 2007

In this study, the cooling characteristics of a liquid cooler using thermoelectric module was experimentally investigated. The experiment was conducted for various inner structures of liquid cooler (4 cases), hot fluid flow rates (0.15-0.25 L/min), number of T.E module (2, 4, 6 set), and the cooling water flow rates (200-600 cc/min) for both parallel and counter flow types. Among the results, better cooling performance geometry was selected. And experiment was also carried out to examine further enhancement of cooling performance by inserting coils (pitches: 0.2, 3, 6 mm) into the hot-fluid channel. Present results showed that the short serpentine type(case2) indicated the best cooling performance. In the case of coil pitch of 3 mm, the best cooling performance was shown, more than 10% increase of the inlet and outlet temperature difference, compared with the case of the cooler without coil. Consequently, the inserted coil pitch should be properly selected to improve cooling performance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.624-632
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• 2008

In this research, we developed new PDMS-glass based microbiochip consisted of the micromixer and microreactor for DNA ligation. The micromixer was composed of a straight channel integrated with nozzles and pillars, and the microreactor was composed of a serpentine channel. We coated the PDMS chip surface with the 0.25wt.% PVP solution to prevent the bubble generation which was caused by the hydrophobicity of the PDMS. The new micomixer was passive type and the mixing was enhanced by a convective diffusion using the nozzle and pillar. The 10.33mm long micromixer showed the good mixing efficiency of 87.7% at 500 l/min flow rate. We could perform the DNA ligation successfully in the microbiochip, and the ligation time was shortened from 4 hours in conventional laboratory method to 5 min in the microbiochip.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.245-251
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• 2016

A numerical model is developed to predict distributions of current density and temperature. Also the complete fuel cell performances were compared. In this study the effect of flow field design and flow direction on current density and temperature distribution as well as full cell performance. The complete three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations were solved with convergence of electro-chemical reactions terms. In this paper, the two different flow field design were simulated, straight channel and rectangular serpentine flow channel, which is commonly used. The effect of flow direction, co-flow and counter-flow, was also analyzed. The current density and temperature is higher with abundant oxygen not fuel. Also, temperature distribution was able to be drawn by using computer simulation. In this paper, the relationship among flow pattern, flow field design and current denstity distribution.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.291-300
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• 2004

Performance of PEMFC is affected by many factors such as that of MEA, configuration of flow field, operating conditions, humidification, cooling and so on. In this study, in order to improve the performance of fuel cell, a small area fuel cell stack was made and its performance was tested under various operating conditions. Stack consists of 3 single PEM fuel cells. Channel is serpentine type and the active area of the electrode is $50cm^2$. The test results show that the peak power is 60W at $70^\circ{C}$ of stack temperature with humidification condition.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.865-884
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• 2016

We have previously demonstrated a microfluidic elastomer, which changes apparent color and could have potential applications in smart windows. The practical use of such functional microfluidic systems requires rapid and uniform fluid displacement throughout the channel network with minimal amount of liquid supply. The goal of this simulation study is to design various microfluidic networks for similar applications including, but not limited to, the color-switching windows and compare the liquid displacement speed and efficiency of the designs. We numerically simulate and analyze the liquid displacement in the microfluidic networks with serpentine, parallel and lattice channel configurations, as well as their modified versions with wide or tapered distributor and collector channels. The data are analyzed on the basis of numerical criteria defined to evaluate the performance of the corresponding functional systems. We found that the lattice channel network geometry with the tapered distributors and collectors provides most rapid and uniform fluid displacement with minimum liquid waste. The simulation results could give an important guideline for efficient liquid supply/displacement in emerging functional systems with embedded microfluidic networks.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.115-121
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• 2008

In this paper, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic model of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) with serpentine flow channel is presented. A steady state, single phase and isothermal numerical model has been established to investigate the influence of the GDL (Gas Diffusion Layer) parameters. The GDL is made of a porous material such as carbon cloth, carbon paper or metal wire mesh. For the simplicity, the GDL is modeled as a block of material having numerous pathways through which gaseous reactants and liquid water can pass. The porosity, permeability and thickness of the GDL, which are employed in the model parameters significantly affect the PEMFC performance at the high current region.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.85-92
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• 2009

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are a promising technology for short-term power generation required in residential and automobile applications. Proper management of water has been found to be essential for improving the performance and durability of PEM fuel cells. This study investigated the liquid water exhaust capabilities of various flow channels having different geometries and surface properties. Three-pass serpentine flow fields were prepared by patterning channels of 1 mm or 2 mm width onto hydrophilic Acrylic plates or hydrophobic Teflon plates, and the behaviors of liquid water in those flow channels were experimentally visualized. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were also conducted to quantitatively assess the liquid water exhaust capabilities of flow channels for PEM fuel cells. Numerical results showed that hydrophobic flow channels have better liquid water exhaust capabilities than hydrophilic flow channels. Flow channels with curved corners showed less droplet stagnation than the channels with sharp corners. It was also found that a smaller width is desirable for hydrophobic flow channels while a larger width is desirable for hydrophilic ones. The above results were explained as being due to the different droplet morphologies in hydrophobic and hydrophilic channels.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2011

In this study, we investigated the hydrodynamic and thermal performance of constructal architectures on the basis of the mass flow rates for a given pressure drop, and we determined the thermal resistance and flow uniformity. The five flow configuration used in this study were the first construct with optimized hydraulic diameter, the second construct with optimized hydraulic diameter, the first construct with non-optimized hydraulic diameter, second construct with non-optimized hydraulic diameter, and a serpentine configuration. The results of our study suggest that the best fluid-flow structure is the second constructal structure with optimized constructal configurations. We also found that in the case of the optimized structure of cooling plates, the heat transfer was remarkably higher and the pumping power was significantly lower than those of traditional channels.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3418-3422
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• 2007

The neutron imaging technique was used to investigate the water discharge characteristics at PEMFC. Prior to investigation of water discharge characteristics, the linear attenuation coefficient for water at Neutron Radiography Facility (NRF) was calibrated. The feasibility test apparatus was consisted of pressurized air and water in order to simulate the actual operating PEMFC. The feasibility tests have been performed at 1-parallel serpentine type with 100 $cm^2$ active area and different air flow rate (1, 2, and 4 lpm). The total water volume variations at each condition were calculated from the neutron images. The water at channel is well discharged as soon as supplying the pressurized air into the PEMFC. However, because the water at MEA isn't removed the total water volume is constant after 150. Therefore more effective method is needed in order to discharge water at MEA, and the neutron imaging technique is helpful for it.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.373-373
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• 2009

Relative humidity, membrane conductivity and water activity are critical parameters of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) for high performance and reliability. These parameters are closely related with temperature. Moreover, the ideal values of these parameters are not always identical along the channels. Therefore, the cooling channel design and its operating condition should be well optimized along the all location of the channels. In the present study, we have performed a numerical investigation on the effects of cooling channels on performance of a PEMFC. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved with the energy equation including heat generated by the electrochemical reactions in the fuel cell. The present numerical model includes the gas diffusion layers (GDL) and serpentine channels for both anode and cathode gas flows, as well as cooling channels. To accurately predict the water transport across the membrane, the distribution of water content in the membrane is calculated by solving a nonlinear differential equation with a nonlinear coefficient, i.e., the water diffusivity which is a function of water content as well as temperature. Main emphasis is placed on the heat transfer between the solid bipolar plate and coolant flow. The present results show that local current density is affected by cooling channels due to the change of the oxygen concentration and the membrane conductivity as well as the water content. It is also found that the relative humidity is influenced by the generated water and the gas temperature and thus it affects the distribution of fuel concentration and the conductivity of the membrane, ultimately fuel cell performance. Unit-cell experiments are also carried out to validate the numerical models. The performance curves between the models and experiments show reasonable results.