Pressure drop and flow distribution characteristics of single and parallel serpentine flow fields for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

This study numerically investigates pressure drop and flow distribution characteristics of serpentine flow fields (SFFs) that are designed for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, which consider the Poiseuille flow with secondary pressure drop in the gas channel (GC) and the Darcy flow in the po...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of mechanical science and technology 2012, 26(9), , pp.2995-3006
Main Authors: Baek, Seung Man, Jeon, Dong Hyup, Nam, Jin Hyun, Kim, Charn-Jung
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Control
Convection
Dynamical Systems
Electrolytes
Energy
Energy. Thermal use of fuels
Engineering
Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc
Exact sciences and technology
Flow distribution
Fuel cells
Industrial and Production Engineering
Mathematical models
Mechanical Engineering
Membranes
Pressure drop
Serpentine
Vibration
기계공학
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Summary:This study numerically investigates pressure drop and flow distribution characteristics of serpentine flow fields (SFFs) that are designed for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, which consider the Poiseuille flow with secondary pressure drop in the gas channel (GC) and the Darcy flow in the porous gas diffusion layer (GDL). The numerical results for a conventional SFF agreed well with those obtained via computational fluid dynamics simulations, thus proving the validity of the present flow network model. This model is employed to characterize various single and parallel SFFs, including multi-pass serpentine flow fields (MPSFFs). Findings reveal that under-rib convection (convective flow through GDL under an interconnector rib) is an important transport process for conventional SFFs, with its intensity being significantly enhanced as GDL permeability increases. The results also indicate that under-rib convection can be significantly improved by employing MPSFFs as the reactant flow field, because of the closely interlaced structure of GC regions that have different path-lengths from the inlet. However, reactant flow rate through GCs proportionally decreases as under-rib convection intensity increases, suggesting that proper optimization is required between the flow velocity in GCs and the under-rib convection intensity in GDLs.
ISSN:1738-494X
1976-3824
DOI:10.1007/s12206-012-0706-y