The rate of hydrogen production within the PEM electrolysis cell is influenced by the temperature, the velocity distributions, and the pressure distribution. In order to design and use a PEM electrolyzer cell effectively, analytical and/or numerical models for the device are necessary so that the system may be optimized. Numerical simulations of three-dimensional water flow were performed for the purpose of examining pressure and velocity distributions in the bipolar plate of a simplified PEM electrolysis cell. The flow range in the present study is assumed to be hydrodynamically stable and steady. The numerical results show that the pressure drops diagonally from the inlet tube to the exit tube. The velocity distribution is very non-uniform in the channels. A minimum of the peak values of mainstream velocity component in the channels develops in the middle of the plate. The maximum of these peak values appears in the channel near the exit tube. The lines along which the mainstream velocity component is a peak in the channel almost overlay with each other, except that a minor difference can be noticed in the channel near the exit tube.
Hydrogen is expected to play an important role as an energy carrier of the future. Hydrogen may be used as fuel in almost every application where fossil fuels are being used today, but without harmful emissions. However, hydrogen is not an energy source, and it does not occur in nature in its elemental or molecular form. Three-dimensional CFD modeling and experimental measurements of a simplified bipolar plate of the PEM electrolysis cell were performed. The computed pressure drop and temperature distribution agree very well with the measurements. The results show that the maximum temperature appears in the fluid channels and near the exit header section, but not in the exit port. The velocity distribution in the fluid channels is very non-uniform over the test plate. A minimum of the peak values of mainstream velocity component in the channels develops in the middle of the plate. The maximum of these peak values appears in the channel near the exit tube.
Numerical simulations of three-dimensional water flow were performed for the purpose of examining velocity and temperature distributions in the bipolar plate of a simplified PEM electrolysis cell. The flow range in the present study is assumed to be hydrodynamically stable and steady with uniform inlet temperature. All solid wall surfaces are maintained as being adiabatically insulated except that the walls adjacent to the active area of the MEA are supplied with constant heat flux. A minimum of the peak values of mainstream velocity component in the channels develops in the middle of the plate. The maximum of these peak values appears in the channel near the exit tube. The maximum temperature develops in the channels in the center of the plate and near the exit header section. The maximum temperature decreases with increasing flowrate.
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