Numerical modeling of three-dimensional two-phase gas–liquid flow in the flow field plate of a PEM electrolysis cell

Nie, Jianhu; Chen, Yitung

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.01.050

Cited by 105 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…It is difficult to circulate the water uniformly over the active area, mainly due to the blockage of gas produced and nonuniform pore structure [33][34][35]. The operating current, hence hydrogen production rate, also depends on the size of the active area for a PEM electrolyzer cell.…”

Section: Stack Size Determinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of operating parameters on the performance of a high-pressure proton exchange membrane electrolyzer

Selamet

Acar

Mat

et al. 2012

Int. J. Energy Res.

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SUMMARY In this study, a 100‐cm2 single‐cell and a 10‐cell stack PEM electrolyzers are designed and manufactured, and the effects of operating parameters such as temperature, pressure, and feed water flow rate on the performance of the PEM electrolyzer are investigated. The hydrogen production capacity of the 10‐cell stack is measured to be 7 NL/min hydrogen at 1 A/cm2 current density and atmospheric pressure. Both the single‐cell and the 10‐cell stack can directly supply both oxygen and hydrogen gases up to 50 bars. The operating temperature is found to be most important parameter affecting on the performance. An 87% efficiency is achieved in single cell at 80 °C and 1 A/cm2 current density. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Stack Size Determinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of operating parameters on the performance of a high-pressure proton exchange membrane electrolyzer

Selamet

Acar

Mat

et al. 2012

Int. J. Energy Res.

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“…A numerical model can provide essential flow characteristics that are otherwise difficult to quantify at high temporal and spatial resolutions in situ, such as velocity distributions, pressure distributions, dynamics of interfacial movement, as well as the oxygen invasion patterns for evaluating porous material design. For example, Nie et al 16 developed a 3D, two-phase model to study the velocity, pressure, and gas volume fraction distributions in the flow channels of a PEM electrolyzer. However, to the authors' best knowledge, a numerical model for investigating mass transport in electrolyzer PTLs has yet to be presented in the literature.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-Dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling of Oxygen Bubble Transport in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyzer Porous Transport Layers

Arbabi

Montazeri

Abouatallah

et al. 2016

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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A three-dimensional (3D), two-phase numerical model was developed and presented as a useful tool for investigating oxygen bubble propagation in porous transport layers (PTLs) (otherwise known as gas diffusion layers (GDLs)) of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. The volume-of-fluid (VoF) technique was employed to simulate the liquid-gas interface movement through liquid-saturated porous media designed to be representative of PEM electrolyzer PTLs. The circulation of the liquid within the channel and the porous domain was included in the model. Bubble propagation patterns and bulk saturations for porous material representations of commonly used PTLs were determined as a function of time leading up to the moment of breakthrough. Previously conducted experimental microfluidic investigations were used for model validation, and it was found that the numerical results were in good agreement with the numerical predictions. The validated model was used to calculate pressure variations in bubbles during propagation, and the highest threshold capillary pressure corresponding to a critical throat was introduced as a means to measure the efficacy of oxygen bubble removal. The information obtained from the developed numerical tool can be used for designing and evaluating PTL microstructures for next generation electrolyzer materials.

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“…Further, many researchers [10,15] have recognized that the thermal performance will be deteriorated by the flow maldistribution according to their study. Therefore, the flow uniformity is widely considered as a direct indicator for the structure optimization [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The present paper tnainly investigates the gas-side flow distribution inside a bayonet tube heat exchanger with inner and outer flns by CFD method and optimizes its configuration.…”

Section: Fig 1 Sketch Of Bayonet Tube Hthe With Inner and Outer Finsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was shown that both the velocity and temperature distributions in the channels were very nonuniform over the test plate and reverse flow existed in the exit tube and near the connection between the exit tube and cbannels. Further, numerical simulations on the two-phase water/ oxygen flow in the bipolar were also conducted by Nie and Chen [13]. It demonstrated that the reverse flow developed inside the flow channels with the increase of mass flow rate of oxygen generation and there existed a significant difference between singlephase flow ca.ses and two-pha.se flow cases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CFD Optimization of Gas-Side Flow Channel Configuration Inside a High Temperature Bayonet Tube Heat Exchanger With Inner and Outer fins

Zeng

et al. 2011

Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power

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In this paper, the gas-side fluid flow disttibution inside a bayonet tube heat exchanger with inner and outer fins is numerically studied. The heat exchanger is designed based on the traditional bayonet tube heat e.xchanger. where compact continuous plain fins and wavelike fins are mounted on the outside and inside surfaces of outer tubes, respectively, to enhance the heat transfer performance. However, gross flow maldistribution and large vortices are observed in the gas-side flow channel of baseline design. In order to improve the flow uniformity, three modified designs are proposed. Three vertical plates and two inclined plates ate mounted on the inlet manifold for Model B. For the Model C, another six bending plates are mounted on the middle manifolds and three pairs of them are connected together. The Model D has a similar structure as Model C except for the two additional baffles. The results indicate that the flow distributions of Models C and D are much more uniform under different inlet Reynolds number, especially in the high inlet Reytwtds number. Although the flow distribution of Model D is the best, its pressure drop is 2.6 times higher than that of Model C. Therefore, the design of Model C is the mo.'^t optimized structure. Compared with the original design, the nonunifortnity of Model C can be reduced by 42% while the pressure drop is almost the same under the baseline condition.

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Numerical modeling of three-dimensional two-phase gas–liquid flow in the flow field plate of a PEM electrolysis cell

Cited by 105 publications

References 45 publications

Effects of operating parameters on the performance of a high-pressure proton exchange membrane electrolyzer

Effects of operating parameters on the performance of a high-pressure proton exchange membrane electrolyzer

Three-Dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling of Oxygen Bubble Transport in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyzer Porous Transport Layers

CFD Optimization of Gas-Side Flow Channel Configuration Inside a High Temperature Bayonet Tube Heat Exchanger With Inner and Outer fins

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