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Effect of humidity content and direction of the flow of reactant gases on water management in the 4-serpentine and 1-serpentine flow channel in a PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell

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  • khazaee, I.
  • Sabadbafan, H.

Abstract

The performance of a PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell depends on design and operating parameters such as relative humidity, operation pressure, and number of channels and direction of the flow of reactant gases. In this study, a three-dimensional, two-phase model has been established to investigate the water management and performance of PEM fuel cell with rectangular geometry and 1-serpentine and 4-serpentine with parallel flow, counter flow and cross flow for hydrogen and oxygen. The numerical simulation was realized with a PEM fuel cell model based on the FLUENT. The active area of each cell is 24.8 cm2 that its weight is 1300 gr. The material of the gas diffusion layer is carbon clothes, the membrane is nafion117 and the catalyst layer is a plane with 0.004 g cm−2 platinum. Pure hydrogen is used on the anode side and oxygen on the cathode side. Simulation results are obtained for voltage as a function of current density at different humidity. The simulation results are compared with the experimental data, and the agreement is found to be good. The results show that the cell performance at lower voltages increases with increasing humidity in cell with 4-Serpentine flow channel and also in cell with 1-Serpentine flow channel, cell performance at all voltages increases with increasing humidity. In cell with 4-Serpentine and parallel flow channel cell performance is better than counter and cross flow in low voltage and in cell with 1-Serpentine and parallel flow, performance is better than counter and cross flow in high voltage.

Suggested Citation

  • khazaee, I. & Sabadbafan, H., 2016. "Effect of humidity content and direction of the flow of reactant gases on water management in the 4-serpentine and 1-serpentine flow channel in a PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 252-265.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:101:y:2016:i:c:p:252-265
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2016.02.026
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Yang, Wonseok & Cha, Dowon & Kim, Yongchan, 2019. "Effects of flow direction on dynamic response and stability of nonhumidification PEM fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 386-395.
    2. Feng, ShengSen & Huang, WenTao & Huang, Zhe & Jian, Qifei, 2022. "Optimization of maximum power density output for proton exchange membrane fuel cell based on a data-driven surrogate model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    3. Hyesoo Jang & Myoung-Hwan Kim & Sang-Kyun Park & Yul-Seong Kim & Byung Chul Choi, 2020. "Simulation of Heat and Mass Transfer Characteristics for the Optimal Operating Conditions of a Gas-to-Gas Membrane Humidifier with Porous Metal Foam," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-19, October.
    4. Ijaodola, O.S. & El- Hassan, Zaki & Ogungbemi, E. & Khatib, F.N. & Wilberforce, Tabbi & Thompson, James & Olabi, A.G., 2019. "Energy efficiency improvements by investigating the water flooding management on proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 246-267.
    5. Afshari, E. & Mosharaf-Dehkordi, M. & Rajabian, H., 2017. "An investigation of the PEM fuel cells performance with partially restricted cathode flow channels and metal foam as a flow distributor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 705-715.
    6. Mohammadi-Ahmar, Akbar & Solati, Ali & Osanloo, Behzad & Hatami, Mohammad, 2017. "Effect of number and arrangement of separator electrode assembly (SEA) on the performance of square tubular PEM fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 302-313.
    7. Tabbi Wilberforce & Oluwatosin Ijaodola & Ahmad Baroutaji & Emmanuel Ogungbemi & Abdul Ghani Olabi, 2022. "Effect of Bipolar Plate Material on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-15, March.
    8. Movahedi, M. & Ramiar, A. & Ranjber, A.A., 2018. "3D numerical investigation of clamping pressure effect on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with interdigitated flow field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 617-632.
    9. Zhou, Yu & Chen, Ben, 2023. "Investigation of optimization and evaluation criteria for flow field in proton exchange membrane fuel cell: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    10. Suprava Chakraborty & Devaraj Elangovan & Karthikeyan Palaniswamy & Ashley Fly & Dineshkumar Ravi & Denis Ashok Sathia Seelan & Thundil Karuppa Raj Rajagopal, 2022. "A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-21, December.
    11. Chowdhury, Mohammad Ziauddin & Timurkutluk, Bora, 2018. "Transport phenomena of convergent and divergent serpentine flow fields for PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 104-117.
    12. Liu, Yongfeng & Wang, Na & Pei, Pucheng & Yao, Shengzhuo & Wang, Fang, 2018. "Asymptotic analysis of anode relative humidity effects on the fastest voltage decay single cell in a stack," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 490-500.

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