DMFC water management in presence of heat sources

Abstract

A heat and mass transfer numerical study is conducted in DMFC in presence of the heat sources. The model is used to investigate the current density effect at operation conditions (temperature) and at water, methanol, carbon dioxide and oxygen concentration. For the numerical resolution, governing equations are discretized by the finite volume method. A program written in FORTRAN language was developed in order to obtain the temperature, water, methanol, oxygen and carbon dioxide fields. The results show that there is a temperature rise at the membrane which involves the membrane drying. However, for the water concentration field, a dehydration problem solution in the membrane is considered. The current density is the key parameter simulation since it is present in Joules effect terms.