An improved serpentine flow field with enhanced cross-flow for fuel cell applications

Suresh, P.V.; Jayanti, S.; Deshpande, Abhijit P.; Haridoss, Prathap

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.01.147

Cited by 66 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The reactant gases move everywhere from the FFP through porous GDL via under-rib paths. The serpentine design has emerged as an industry standard because of its robust performance and ability to reproduce results (Suresh et al, 2011). It is used as a reference design, to assess any improved or new designs of FFP.…”

Section: Serpentine Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The disadvantages of the serpentine designs are a high resistivity to flow due to the long narrow channel and presence of short bended channel paths (Tüber et al, 2004;Jeon et al, 2008;Kloess et al, 2009;Suresh et al, 2011). At low current densities, water can be accumulated below the ribs of the FFP, while at higher current densities this can also happen in the channels (Figures 2A,B).…”

Section: Serpentine Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are many experimental and theoretical studies of different modifications of conventional designs, including different numbers (Jeon et al, 2008;Boddu et al, 2009), and dimensions (Kumar and Reddy, 2003a;Ferng et al, 2008;Ferng and Su, 2007;Wang et al, 2010b) of inlets, outlets, and channels, smoothed corners, and other improvements. Mixed designs are based upon combinations of two or more of the convenient designs like parallel-serpentine, mirror-serpentine, serially linked serpentine (Kahraman and Orhan, 2017), spiral-serpentine (Tang et al, 2010), split-serpentine (Suresh et al, 2011), and others. Some of them managed to enhance under-rib convection, improve water removal, and FC performance noticeably (Suresh et al, 2011).…”

Section: Mixed and Non-planar Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flow Field Patterns for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

et al. 2020

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Flow field designs for the bipolar plates of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell are reviewed; including the serpentine, parallel, interdigitated, mesh type or their mixtures, furthermore 2D circular and 3D tubular geometries, porous, fractal, and biomimetic flow fields. The advantages/disadvantages and tendencies from field optimizations are discussed. The performance of each flow field design is compared to the conventional serpentine flow field. Good flow field plates give uniform gas distributions, low pressure drop for transport, and sufficient rib area to provide high electronic conductivity. A good field should also prevent water condensation, remove water efficiently, and provide sufficiently high moisture content in the membrane. The demands on design are sometimes contradictory. Future work should aim for a flow field geometry and topology that produces uniform gas delivery at a low pressure-drop, and at the same time has an optimal channel shape for better water removal. It is concluded that for an area-filling gas distributor, the developments should aim to find a flow field in accordance with minimum entropy production, making an emphasis on multi-criteria optimization methods.

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Section: Serpentine Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Serpentine Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mixed and Non-planar Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flow Field Patterns for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

et al. 2020

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“…Complete equivalent electrical circuit schematic, as used in [25] scribed in the literature correspond to those strategies adopted by FC manufacturers [20]. One is the previously explained flow field design [29][30][31][32]. Another strategy is the anode water removal that is based on a decrease in the anode pressure by purging.…”

Section: Membranementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Main Power Electronics' Advances in Order to Ensure Efficient Operation and Durability of PEMFCs

et al. 2012

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Original scientific paperThis article focuses on the main issues that affect the lifetime and performance of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. The short lifespans of these fuel cells represent a barrier to their massive commercialization and usage in mobile and stationary applications. As fuel cell is a very complex system, a lot of knowledge of different areas is required, such as chemistry, electricity and mechanics, in order to completely understand its operation and all the problems that can occur during it. It is for this reason that an interdisciplinary approach needs to be taken when designing fuel-cell energy systems. This paper focuses on identifying and solving those issues that negatively affect the lifetime and performance of fuel cells. It is hoped that this article would be a valuable aid for power electronics' researchers and engineers for better understanding the presented issues and a useful guide for solving them with the use of proper power electronic-devices. Initially, the basic operation and structure of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell is explained. Three main issues that can occur during operation of a mobile or stationary fuel cell energy system are pointed out and discussed in details, on the basis of the state-of-the-art on fuel cell technology. These issues are poor water management, reactant gas starvation and fuel cell current ripple. This article provides answers as to why they occur, how they affect the fuel cell, how they can be mitigated, and what are the future trends within this research field.Key words: PEMFC, Water management, Reactant gas starvation, Current ripple, Power electronics.Pregled znanstvenih napredaka u učinskoj elektronici usmjerenih ka osiguravanju efikasnog rada i dužeg životnog vijeka PEM gorivihćelija.Članak se osvrće na ključna pitanja koja utječu na vrijeme rada i performanse gorivihćelija s polimernom membranom kao elektrolitom. Kratak životni vijek gorivihćelija takve vrste prepreka je njihovoj komercijalizaciji i masovnoj upotrebi u mobilnim i stacionarnim stanicama. Budući da su gorivećelije komplicirani sustavi potrebno je znanje iz raznih područja kemije, elektrotehnike i mehanike da bi se u potpunosti mogao razumjeti njihov način rada i problemi koji se dogadaju. Upravo je zbog toga multidisciplinarni pristup nužnost pri razvoju sustava koji koriste gorivećelije. Ovaj ječlanak usmjeren prema identifikaciji i rješavanju onih problema koji negativno utječu na životni vijek i performanse gorivihćelija. Autori se nadaju daće sečlanak pokazati kao korisna pomoć i vodič istraživačima i inženjerima u domeni učinske elektronike pri susretu s navedenim problemima. Objašnjen je način rada i struktura gorivećelije s polimernom membranom kao elektrolitom. Izložena su, i diskutirana do u detalje, tri glavna problema sa stajališta trenutačnih spoznaja u području učinske elektronike. Ti problemi su: loše upravljanje vodom, nestanak reaktantnog plina i strujni trzaji u gorivimćelijama. Objašnjeno je zašto se ovi problemi dogadaju, kako utječu na gorivućelij...

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“…8, No. 3, 2013 Journal of Thermal Science and Technology Improved models of serpentine flow field have been developed in the recent literature to address some of these bypassing by enhancing cross flow [29][30][31][32]. However, these do not discuss the mechanism of performance improvement by cross flow individually.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Investigation of Cross Flow on the Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

Uddin

Oshima

2013

JTST

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A three dimensional, single-phase, isothermal study of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) was conducted to investigate the mechanism of convective flow effect on the performance of fuel cell. Convective flow was caused by inlet velocity and cross flow through the GDL. To clarify the mechanism of cross flow effect on the performance of PEFC, it was induced in the parallel flow field, whereas cross flow inherently appear in the serpentine flow fields. In addition, to isolate the contribution of cross flow on the performance, the simulation was executed with a low current density where oxygen transport resistance was stronger than proton/electron transport resistance. Gas channels with a smaller pitch length produced a more uniform current density than those with a larger pitch length. With increase of inlet velocity the performance increases for any values of pitch length. Cross flow through the GDL caused by the differential pressure between adjacent channels had significantly enhanced the local current density of a PEFC and simultaneously increased the degree of non-uniformity in the current density. The cross flow can increase the performance of fuel cell by reducing the oxygen transport resistance. Therefore, it is possible to overcome the oxygen transport limitation by inducing cross flow.

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An improved serpentine flow field with enhanced cross-flow for fuel cell applications

Cited by 66 publications

References 12 publications

Flow Field Patterns for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Flow Field Patterns for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

A Review of the Main Power Electronics' Advances in Order to Ensure Efficient Operation and Durability of PEMFCs

Numerical Investigation of Cross Flow on the Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

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