TY - JOUR
T1 - Numerical study of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) with a focus on rib design
AU - Xia, Lingchao
AU - Xu, Qidong
AU - He, Qijiao
AU - Ni, Meng
AU - Seng, Meng
N1 - Funding Information:
M. Ni thanks the funding support (Project Number: PolyU 152214/17E and PolyU 152064/18E ) from Research Grant Council, University Grants Committee , Hong Kong SAR.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC
PY - 2021/6/11
Y1 - 2021/6/11
N2 - The rib size is a critical engineering design parameter for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) stack development, yet it hasn't been studied for HT-PEMFC. A three-dimensional, non-isothermal model was developed in this work to investigate the effect of channel to rib width ratios (CRWR) on the performance of HT-PEMFC. The reaction heat caused by entropy change was divided into cathodic half-reaction heat and anodic half-reaction heat. The results show that the ratio value significantly influence the gas diffusion, electron conduction and the distribution of current density in the porous electrodes. Increasing this ratio facilitates gas transport in the porous electrode but causes higher ohmic loss due to longer distance for electron conduction. As a result, an optimal ratio of about 1 is observed, which results in a peak power density of 0.428 W/cm2. High current density is observed under the channel with a small ratio value while a high ratio value would cause high current density to appear under the rib, signifying the rib size effect on electrochemical behavior of HT-PEMFC. Apart from the electrical power output, the CRWR value also greatly influences the fluid flow and temperature distribution inside the cell, which would influence the long-term stability of HT-PEMFC. In the subsequent studies, efforts will be made to develop new stack configurations with more uniform gas distribution, short electron conduction path and low temperature gradient.
AB - The rib size is a critical engineering design parameter for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) stack development, yet it hasn't been studied for HT-PEMFC. A three-dimensional, non-isothermal model was developed in this work to investigate the effect of channel to rib width ratios (CRWR) on the performance of HT-PEMFC. The reaction heat caused by entropy change was divided into cathodic half-reaction heat and anodic half-reaction heat. The results show that the ratio value significantly influence the gas diffusion, electron conduction and the distribution of current density in the porous electrodes. Increasing this ratio facilitates gas transport in the porous electrode but causes higher ohmic loss due to longer distance for electron conduction. As a result, an optimal ratio of about 1 is observed, which results in a peak power density of 0.428 W/cm2. High current density is observed under the channel with a small ratio value while a high ratio value would cause high current density to appear under the rib, signifying the rib size effect on electrochemical behavior of HT-PEMFC. Apart from the electrical power output, the CRWR value also greatly influences the fluid flow and temperature distribution inside the cell, which would influence the long-term stability of HT-PEMFC. In the subsequent studies, efforts will be made to develop new stack configurations with more uniform gas distribution, short electron conduction path and low temperature gradient.
KW - Channel to rib width ratio
KW - HT-PEMFC
KW - Reactants distribution
KW - Thermal behavior
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104434122&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.03.192
DO - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.03.192
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85104434122
SN - 0360-3199
VL - 46
SP - 21098
EP - 21111
JO - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
JF - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
IS - 40
ER -