Sealing Performance of Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Seals for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

The reliability of the sealing system of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is a prerequisite for ensuring the efficient and safe operation of the cell stack. In consideration of the actual assembly process, a local model of single‐cell sealing structure is constructed using a rounded corner rectangular sealing gasket structure. Apart from that, the effects of fluid pressure, bipolar plate offset, sealing gasket size, steady‐state temperature field, and seal structure on the sealing performance of PEMFC are investigated. As shown by results, with the increase of fluid pressure and sealing gasket width, the contact pressure is increased and the sealing performance is also improved. However, the increase of sealing gasket height is unfavorable to the stability and sealing performance of the stack. Meanwhile, excessive offset error leads to a sharp decrease in contact length and contact pressure at the sealing interface, which reduces the stability of the stack. With the increase of the operating temperature, the thermal expansion of the gasket increases and the contact performance improves significantly. Seals with rectangular structure have some advantages in terms of contact stability and standard deviation of contact pressure.