Study on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with dead-ended anode in gravity environment

• Published in: Applied energy 2020-03, Vol.261, p.114454, Article 114454
• Main Authors: Liu, Shihua, Chen, Tao, Zhang, Cheng, Xie, Yi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dead-ended anode (DEA); Gravity; Printed circuit board (PCB); Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC); Transparent fuel cell
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.114454

•The flow channel position affects the performance of PEMFC with dead-ended anode.•The flow channel position affects the working time of PEMFC with dead-ended anode.•The flow channel position affects the water distribution in the anode flow channel.•The flow channel position affects the uniformity of current density distribution.•The impedance of PEMFC with dead-ended anode will increase during operation. The accumulation of water on the anode side will have an important impact on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with dead-ended anode (DEA). In order to find out the accumulation and distribution characteristics of water in the flow channel and its influence on the performance of PEMFC with DEA, the transparent fuel cell technology and printed circuit board (PCB) segmented measurement technology are used to study the change of water distribution characteristics caused by the placement orientation of the flow channel in gravity environment, and the influence of this change on the performance of PEMFC with DEA is also studied. The experimental results show that the placement orientation of the flow channel has a significant effect on the transient performance of the PEMFC with DEA. When the orientation of the flow channel is changed, not only the accumulated content and distribution state of water in the anode flow channel are significantly affected, but also the working time of the PEMFC with DEA is affected. The change of internal resistance is also one of the important reasons that affect the transient performance of fuel cell, but the accumulation of water in anode flow channel is not the main reason for the performance degradation. In addition, changing the placement orientation of the flow channel will affect the uniformity of the local current density distribution, and when the flow channel is placed in the case of (d), the local current density distribution is the most uniform.