Water management in a single cell proton exchange membrane fuel cells with a serpentine flow field

Hassan, Nik Suhaimi Mat; Daud, Wan Ramli Wan; Sopian, Kamaruzzaman; Sahari, Jaafar

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2009.01.066

Cited by 35 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, gas and water management is the key to achieving good performance from a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack [9]. The field flow plates have to meet the conflicting requirements of providing good electrical contact and easy passage and even distribution of the gases concerned, hydrogen to the surface of the anode and air or oxygen to the surface of the cathode.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Design of experiment study of the parameters that affect performance of three flow plate configurations of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Carton

Olabi

2010

Energy

195

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Low temperature hydrogen fuel cells are electrochemical devices which offer a promising alternative to traditional power sources. Fuel cells produce electricity with a reaction of the fuel (hydrogen) and air. Fuel cells have the advantage of being clean; only producing water and heat as by products. The efficiency of a fuel cell varies depending on the type; SOFC with CHP for example, can have a system efficiency of up to 65%.What the Authors present here is a comparison between three different configurations of flow plates of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell, the manufacturer's serpentine flow plate and two new configurations; the maze flow plate and the parallel flow plate. A study of the input parameters affecting output responses of voltage, current, power and efficiency of a fuel cell is performed through experimentation. The results were taken from direct readings of the fuel cell and from polarisation curves produced. This information was then analysed through a design of experiment to investigate the effects of the changing parameters on different configurations of the fuel cell's flow plates.The results indicate that, in relation to current and voltage response of the polarisation curve and the corresponding graphs produced from the DOE, the serpentine flow plate design is a much more effective design than the maze or parallel flow plate design. It was noted that the parallel flow plate performed reasonably well at higher pressures but over all statically the serpentine flow plate performed better.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flow plates help distribute the gases over the reactant area of the MEA at various velocities and pressures. They can affect the polarisation performance of fuel cell and also aid the water management, particularly the water extraction from the cell [9]. Therefore a new improved design could produce a higher cell performance [10,11].…”

Section: Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of experiment study of the parameters that affect performance of three flow plate configurations of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Carton

Olabi

2010

Energy

195

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They showed that cell performance can be achieved without humidifying the gas streams through use of product water produced by the electrochemical cell reaction, or in the case of Watanabe et al, by direct humidification of the membrane by wicking from an auxiliary water supply. Strategies for operating polymer electrolyte fuel cells include also the reduction of humidification of both reactant gases [3][4][5][6] or the dry operation of cathode [7][8][9] or anode sides [10]. The studies are not only concerned with demonstrating stable operation under reduced humidification conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oscillations of PEM fuel cells at low cathode humidification

Sánchez

Diaz

Hiesgen

et al. 2010

Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tOscillatory fluctuations of a single polymer electrolyte fuel cell appear upon operation with a dry cathode air supply and a fully humidified anode stream. Periodic transitions between a low and a high current operation point of the oscillating state are observed. The transition time of 20-25 s for the change from the low to the high operation is fast and does not depend on the operating parameters. Contrasting with this behavior, the downward transition depends strongly on the operating conditions. Impedance measurements indicate a high ionic resistance with low water content for the low current operation and a low ionic resistance of the membrane with high water content for the high current operation. An insight into the transitions is obtained by current density distributions at distinct times indicating a propagating active area with defined boundaries. The observations are in agreement with assuming a liquid water reservoir at the anode with a downward transition period depending on the operation conditions. The high current operation possesses a high electro-osmotic drag and a high permeation rate (corresponding to liquid-vapor permeation) leading to a large water flux to the cathode. Subsequently, the liquid reservoir at the anode is consumed leading to an anode drying. The system establishes a new quasi-stable operation point associated with a low current, low electro-osmotic drag coefficient, and a low water permeation (corresponding to vapor-vapor permeation). When liquid water is formed at the anode interface after some time the fast transition to the high current operation occurs. This interpretation is supported by conductive atomic force microscopy current images of the membrane showing a strong dependence of the ionic conductivity on the activation procedures with or without liquid water and also showing oscillatory behavior after the membrane is activated. Specifically, activation with liquid water yields a high conductivity with currents larger by three orders of magnitude.

show abstract

“…Besides, some mathematical models were developed to evaluate the humidification effect on PEMFC performance [161][162][163][164]. For example, Ahmed and Sung employed three-dimensional, non-isothermal models to investigate the effect of humidification [165], GDL permeability [166], channel geometrical configuration and shoulder width [167] on water management, and predict the distributions of water vapor and liquid water and the related water management for systems operating at different current densities [168].…”

Section: Other Water Transport and Water Management Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Water Management in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

At present, despite the great advances in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology over the past two decades through intensive research and development activities, their large-scale commercialization is still hampered by their higher materials cost and lower reliability and durability. In this review, water management is given special consideration. Water management is of vital importance to achieve maximum performance and durability from PEMFCs. On the one hand, to maintain good proton conductivity, the relative humidity of inlet gases is typically held at a large value to ensure that the membrane remains fully hydrated. On the other hand, the pores of the catalyst layer (CL) and the gas diffusion layer (GDL) are frequently flooded by excessive liquid water, resulting in a higher mass transport resistance. Thus, a subtle equilibrium has to be maintained between membrane drying and liquid water flooding to prevent fuel cell degradation and guarantee a high performance level, which is the essential problem of water management. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art studies of water management, including the experimental methods and modeling and simulation for the characterization of water management and the water management strategies. As one important aspect of water management, water flooding has been extensively studied during the last two decades. Herein, the causes, detection, effects on cell performance and mitigation strategies of water flooding are overviewed in detail. In the end of the paper the emphasis is given to: (i) the delicate equilibrium of membrane drying vs. water flooding in water management; (ii) determining which phenomenon is principally responsible for the deterioration of the PEMFC performance, the flooding of the porous electrode or the gas

show abstract

Water management in a single cell proton exchange membrane fuel cells with a serpentine flow field

Cited by 35 publications

References 55 publications

Design of experiment study of the parameters that affect performance of three flow plate configurations of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Design of experiment study of the parameters that affect performance of three flow plate configurations of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Oscillations of PEM fuel cells at low cathode humidification

A Review of Water Management in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About