Coupled continuum and condensation–evaporation pore network model of the cathode in polymer-electrolyte fuel cell

Belgacem, Najib; Prat, Marc; Pauchet, Joël

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.01.184

Cited by 33 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…[9,10], show situations where the liquid water is confined under the ribs with no liquid water in the regions of the GDL below the channels. As discussed and shown in [26,27], the condensation PNM leads to results in fairly good agreement with those experiments. Owing to the crucial role of condensation, the PNMs of the first group should lead to very poor results in this case.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Details are available in previous publications, e.g. [26,27], and for this reason are not repeated here. Actually, the PNM discretization of the various transport problems on the cubic network is quite similar to a finite volume discretization over a regular mesh, with a spatial step equal to the lattice spacing.…”

Section: Transport Problems To Be Solvedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has motivated quite a few studies using various techniques, such as Lattice Boltzmann Method, e.g. [11], or pore network models (PNM) [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. More classical continuum approaches based on the standard twophase flow model for porous media have been also used, e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Related to this group, one can also mention the PNM presented in [24] where the water also enters the GDL in liquid form but with, in addition, the consideration of the evaporation phenomenon. The models of the second group [25][26][27][28], have been proposed much more recently. Compared to the models of the first group, a major difference is that liquid water can form within the GDL as a result of vapour condensation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The corresponding conditions were a standard operating temperature of 80°C and possibly a high relative humidity in the channel. However, the condition of a fully humidified gas in the channel was not considered in the simulations presented in [26,27]. Interestingly, the visualisations of the water distribution obtained by X-ray tomography presented in [6] for a temperature of 80°C but fully humidified channel gas conditions show liquid water distributions markedly different with liquid water present not only below the rib but also in the regions of the GDL below the channel.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Liquid water in cathode gas diffusion layers of PEM fuel cells: Identification of various pore filling regimes from pore network simulations

Carrère

Prat

2019

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Transport Problems To Be Solvedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Liquid water in cathode gas diffusion layers of PEM fuel cells: Identification of various pore filling regimes from pore network simulations

Carrère

Prat

2019

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vapor condensation in reconstructed gas diffusion layers of proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Jiao

2020

Int J Energy Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary In the present study, water is considered to be in vapor state when intruding the gas diffusion layers (GDL) of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). A phase change solver was developed in OpenFOAM platform and validated to model the vapor condensation processes in reconstructed GDL. The stochastic method was adopted to reconstruct the 3D GDL while the vapor/condensate water two‐phase flow problem was solved by employing the volume of fluids (VOF) method. Vapor condensation processes in GDL with/without rib were compared under different current densities and ambient temperatures. The temporal varying condensate droplets’ distributions were displayed and the droplets evolution processes were summarized. Vapor condensation processes can be divided into several stages, including small water‐droplets generation, droplets growth, coalescence, accumulation, and condensate water removal. It was found that the condensate water distribution under the rib was entirely different from that under the channel. Water saturation in GDL without rib was lower at the same current density and same ambient temperature. In addition, the vapor condensation was highly sensitive to the local temperature. Growth of the temporal liquid water saturation presented remarkable difference when local temperature varied. The condensate water breakthrough paths were identified. The cyclic release of condensate water droplets into the channel activated the water saturation fluctuations. Water saturation fluctuated wildly in the GDL with rib along the thickness direction, due to the role of rib in impeding the removal of water. Besides, it was noticed that the rib was not beneficial for oxygen diffusion apart from hindering the condensate water transport. A phase change solver was developed in OpenFOAM platform and validated to model the vapor condensation in a realistic structural GDL. The temporal varying condensate droplets’ distributions were displayed and the droplets evolution processes were summarized. The rib was not beneficial for the oxygen diffusion apart from hindering the condensate water transport, which increases the risks of water flooding.

show abstract

Effective Transport Properties

García-Salaberri

2022

Electrochemical Cell Calculations With OpenFOAM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Porous media are an integral part of electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices, including fuel cells, electrolyzers, redox flow batteries and lithium-ion batteries, among others. The calculation of effective transport properties is required for designing more efficient components and for closing the formulation of macroscopic continuum models at the cell/stack level. In this chapter, OpenFOAM is used to determine the effective transport properties of virtually-generated fibrous gas diffusion layers. The analysis focuses on effective properties that rely on the fluid phase, diffusivity and permeability, which are determined by solving Laplace and Navier-Stokes equations at the pore scale, respectively. The model implementation (geometry generation, meshing, solver settings and postprocessing) is described, accompanied by a discussion of the main results. The dependence of orthotropic effective transport properties on porosity is examined and compared to traditional correlations presented in the literature.

show abstract

Coupled continuum and condensation–evaporation pore network model of the cathode in polymer-electrolyte fuel cell

Abstract: OATAO is an open access repository that collects the work of some Toulouse researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible.

Cited by 33 publications

References 38 publications

Liquid water in cathode gas diffusion layers of PEM fuel cells: Identification of various pore filling regimes from pore network simulations

Liquid water in cathode gas diffusion layers of PEM fuel cells: Identification of various pore filling regimes from pore network simulations

Vapor condensation in reconstructed gas diffusion layers of proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Effective Transport Properties

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About