• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.260-263
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• 2005

The effects of internal manifold designs the reactant feed-stream in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFCs) is studied to figure out mass flow-distribution patterns over an entire fuel cell stack domain. Reactants flows are modeled either laminar or turbulent depending on regions and the open channels in the bipolar plates are simulated by porous media where permeability should be pre-determined for computational analysis. In this work, numerical models for reactant feed-stream in the PEFC manifolds are classified into two major flow patterns: Z-shape and U-shape. Several types of manifold geometries are analyzed to find the optimal manifold configurations. The effect of heat generation in PEFC on the flow distribution is also investigated applying a simplified heat transfer model in the stack level (i.e. multi-cell electrochemical power-generation unit). This modeling technique is well suited for many large scale problems and this scheme can be used not only to account for the manifold flow pattern but also to obtain information on the optimal design and operation of a PEMC system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.288-297
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• 2009

A serpentine channel geometry often used in a fuel cell has a strong pressure gradient between adjacent channels in specific regions. The pressure gradient helps some amount of reactant gas penetrate through a gas diffusion layer(GDL). As a result, the overall serpentine flow structure is slightly different from the intention of a designer. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of serpentine flow structure on current density distribution. By using a commercial code, STAR-CD, a numerical simulation is performed to analyze the fuel cell with high aspect ratio of active area. To increase the accuracy of the numerical simulation, GDL permeabilities are measured with various compressive forces. Three-dimensional flow field and current density distribution are calculated. For the verification of the numerical simulation results, water condensation process in the cathode channel is observed through a transparent bipolar plate. The result of this study shows that the region of relatively low current density corresponds that of dropwise condensation in cathode channels.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.87.2-87.2
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• 2011

This paper describes internal flow of a fuel cell's blower, which is mainly used for detached house and apartment. Test blower is operated by a diaphragm, which has suction and discharge port on the top of the blower. For analyzing the internal flow of the blower, three-dimensional Navier-Stokes analysis is introduced in the present study. Hybrid grid system consisted of hexa hedral, tetra hedral and prism mesh is adopted to describe the complex geometry of the diaphragm blower. Throughout the numerical simulation, it is found that the present numerical modeling for analyzing the internal flow of the test blower is suitable for understanding the unsteady nature inside the cavity of the diaphragm. Detailed unsteady flow is analyzed using the results obtained by numerical simulation.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.1 no.2 s.2
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• pp.41-52
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• 2005

The effects of internal manifold designs on the reactants feed-stream in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells [PEFCs] is studied to figure out flow and thermal distribution patterns over an entire fuel cell stack. Reactants flows are modeled either laminar of turbulent depending on regions and the open channels in the bipolar plates are simulated by porous media where permeability should be pre-deter-mined for computational analysis. In this work, numerical models for reactants feed-stream In the PEFC manifolds are classified Into two major flow patterns: Z-shape and U-shape. Several types of manifold geometries are analyzed to find the optimal manifold configurations. The effect of heat generation in PEFC on the flow distribution is also Investigated applying a simplified heat transfer model in the stack level (i.e. multi-cell electrochemical power-generation unit). This modeling technique Is well suited for many large scale problems and this scheme can be used not only to account for the manifold flow pattern but also to obtain Information on the optimal design and operation of PEFC systems.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.877-884
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• 2004

In this paper, structural analysis is performed to investigate the deformation of porous media in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Structural deformation of air plate of the fuel cell causes the change in configuration and cross sectional area of the channel. The distributions of mass flow rate and pressure are major factors to decide the performance of a PEMFC. These factors are affected by channel configuration of air plate. Two kinds of numerical air plate models are suggested for flow analyses. Deformed porous media and undeformed porous media are considered for the two models. The Numerical flow analysis results between deformed porous media and undeformed porous media have some discrepancy in pressure distribution. The pressure and velocity distribution under a working condition are numerically calculated to predict the performance of the air plates. Pressure and velocity distributions are compared for two models. It is shown that structural deformation makes difference in flow analysis results.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.835-840
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• 2009

In this paper, confined multiple slot jet impingement with exhaust ports is investigated numerically. A flow cell, defined as volume sectioned by the impingement and confinement surfaces and the centerlines of adjacent nozzle and exhaust port, is chosen for computational domain. The effects of Reynolds number and geometrical parameters on the heat transfer performance and the flow characteristics are studied. For turbulence, the Abe-Kondoh-Nagano version of the low-Reynolds k-$\varepsilon$ model is employed. The results showed that the local Nusselt number distribution is shifted down and show poor heat transfer performance for small Reynolds number and small ratio of the lateral and axial length of flow cell. The rest of range, except the range of the shift phenomenon, can be classified into three groups by heat transfer characteristics.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.248-251
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• 2008

The objective of this study is to select fuel/air feeders for reliable operation of BOP(Balance of Plant) system for a DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell). A 42-cell 50W DMFC stack is considered for performance comparison of selected fuel pumps and air blowers. The present stack has two serpentine anode channels with depth of 1.2 mm and rib of 1 mm and one serpentine cathode channel with depth of 1.5 mm and rib of 1 mm. The pressure drop through the stack is estimated in advance by utilizing the pre-existing loss coefficients data for various flow configurations. Then the operating points of feeders are determined at the balance point of the flow impedance curves for the channels in the DMFC stack and the selected pump and blower performance curves. After estimating the operating flow rates in the anode and cathode channels, the flow measurement with the selected feeders is performed for the comparison with the estimated flow rates. The measured results show that the discrepancy between the estimation and the measurement for the cathode is about 26%, about 3% for the anode

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.248-258
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• 2017

A study was carried out to observe the 1% aqueous safranine solution flow speed in longitudinal and radial directions of softwood Thuja orientalis L., diffuse-porous wood Gmelina arborea Roxb., and ring-porous wood Phellodendron amurense Rupr., Longitudinal flow was considered from bottom to top while the radial flow was considered from bark to pith directions. In radial direction, ray cells and in longitudinal direction tracheids, vessel and wood fiber were considered for the measurement of liquid penetration speed at less than 12% moisture contents(MC). The variation of penetration speed for different species was observed and the reasons behind for this variation were explored. The highest radial penetration depth was found in ray parenchyma of T. orientalis but the lowest one was found in ray parenchyma of P. amurense. The average liquid penetration depth in longitudinal trachied of T. orientalis was found the highest among all the other cells. The penetration depth in fiber of G. arborea was found the lowest among the other longitudinal cells. It was found that cell dimension and also meniscus angle of safranine solution with cell walls were the prime factors for the variation of liquid flow speed in wood. Vessel was found to facilitate prime role in longitudinal penetration for hardwood species. The penetration depth in vessel of G. arborea was found highest among all vessels. Anatomical features like ray parenchyma cell length and diameter, end-wall pits number were found also responsible fluid flow differences. Initially liquid penetration speed was high and the nit gradually decreased in an uneven rate. Liquid flow was captured via video and the penetration depths in those cells were measured. It was found that even in presence of abundant rays in hardwood species, penetration depth of liquid in radial direction of softwood species was found high. Herein the ray length, lumen area, end wall pit diameter determined the radial permeability. On the other hand, vessel and fiber structure affected the longitudinal flow of liquids. Following a go-stop-go cycle, the penetration speed of a liquid decreased over time.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.618-623
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• 2022

The bipolar plate is a key component of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) that transfers reactants and electrons, discharges water and heat as by-products, and serves as a mechanical support for the membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Therefore, the flow field structure of the bipolar plate plays an important role in improving fuel cell performance. In this study, PEMFC performance was investigated with copper foams with different compressibility ratios applied to cathode bipolar plates using a 25 cm² unit cell. The total resistance decreased as the compressibility ratio of the metal foams increased, and, in particular, the charge transfer and mass transfer resistance were significantly improved compared to the serpentine flow field, lowering voltage loss in medium and high current density region. In the case of pressurized air reactant flow with serpentine structure, fuel cell performance was similar to that of a compressed metal foam flow field (S3) up to the medium current density region, but low performance appeared in the high current density region due to flow field structure limitations.

• 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.