Bipolar plates remain one of the key components in PEM fuel cells. It serves as the medium (Channel) in which the reactive substances (Hydrogen and oxygen/air) finally converge on the catalyst layer where the electrochemical reaction leading to the release of electron (electricity) occurs. Its optimization would eventually have an immense impact on the performance of the fuel cell. Simulation and modelling is a key tool in the engineering industry as it saves engineers time and money before the manufacturing of any engineering product. It helps manufacturers have firsthand information about the design feasibility before the manufacturing process in a workshop.This paper reports the modelling and simulation of the bipolar plate in fuel cell using nickel Open Pore Cellular Foam material through computational fluid dynamics software (Ansys CFX). The modelled bipolar plate was validated through design of experiments (DOE) in Ansys and compared with other flow plate design (serpentine) in the fuel cell industry.
We investigated the potential of graphite based coatings deposited on titanium V alloy by a low-cost powder based process for bipolar plate application. The coatings which were deposited from a mixture of graphite and alumina powders at ambient temperature, pressure of 90 psi, and speed of 20 mm were characterised and electrochemically polarised in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 + 2 ppm HF bubbled with air and hydrogen gas to depict the cathode and anode PEM fuel cell environment, respectively. Surface conductivity and water contact angles were also evaluated. Corrosion current in the 1 A/cm 2 range in both cathodic and anodic environment at room temperature and showed negligible influence on the electrochemical behaviour of the bare alloy. Similar performance, which was attributed to the discontinuities in the coatings, was also observed when polarised at 0.6 V and −0.1 V with air and hydrogen bubbling at 70 ∘ C respectively. At 140 N/cm 2 , the coated alloy exhibited contact resistance of 45.70 mΩ⋅cm 2 which was lower than that of the bare alloy (66.50 mΩ⋅cm 2 ) but twice that of graphite (21.29 mΩ⋅cm 2 ). Similarly, the wettability test indicated that the coated layer exhibited higher contact angle of 99.63 ∘ than that of the bare alloy (66.32 ∘ ). Over all, these results indicated need for improvement in the coating process to achieve a continuous layer.
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