Design and Development of Open Cathode PEM Fuel Cell – Flow Analysis Optimization by CFD

Air‐cooled polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have emerged as a potential power generation source, due to its simple construction and operation. Flow‐field designing for the efficient distribution of reactants is of paramount importance in air‐cooled PEM fuel cells. The requirement of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Fuel cells (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2020-02, Vol.20 (1), p.33-39
Main Authors: Gopi, K. H., Nambi, A., Rajalakshmi, N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerodynamics
Air Cooling
Air intakes
Cathodes
CFD Simulation
Computational fluid dynamics
Computer simulation
Design modifications
Electric power generation
Electrolytic cells
Flow control
Flow Field Design
Flow Optimization
Fluid flow
Fuel Cells
Mathematical models
Optimization
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane
Pressure drop
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells
Software
Stress concentration
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Summary:Air‐cooled polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have emerged as a potential power generation source, due to its simple construction and operation. Flow‐field designing for the efficient distribution of reactants is of paramount importance in air‐cooled PEM fuel cells. The requirement of flow fields with uniform distribution amounting to minimal pressure drop across the flow area is necessary for high gas utilization and easy removal of water. Thus, the present work deals with the design of land and pillar flow field type for cathode, and further optimization of its flow pattern. A 3‐D computational fluid dynamics analysis tool for modeling fluid flow was used for simulating the reactant distribution profile and finalizing the flow field design. The effect of flow field design, inlet velocity and inlet ports dimension were studied in order to obtain flow pattern with uniform distribution. The optimized configuration showed higher percentage of flow area (76%) with outlet velocities ranging from 3.0–5.5 m s−1 in relation to inlet velocity of 4.4 m s−1. From the results it was inferred that, with the increase of air inlet velocity and modified flow design, the non‐uniform areas occurring in flow field are reduced leading to uniform air distribution throughout the flow volume.
ISSN:1615-6846
1615-6854
DOI:10.1002/fuce.201900124