IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v261y2022ipbs0360544222021235.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modeling of a novel cathode flow field design with optimized sub-channels to improve drainage for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Author

Listed:
  • Liao, Shuxin
  • Qiu, Diankai
  • Yi, Peiyun
  • Peng, Linfa
  • Lai, Xinmin

Abstract

Water management is the primary factor affecting the output performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Aiming to effectively deal with the flooding problem during the cell operation in a cathode flow field, this paper proposes a novel sub-channel design based on a wave-like flow field. The effects of sub-channel wall properties and channel geometry on the water removal capacity of the sub-channel are numerically evaluated by using the volume of fluid (VOF) method. Verification experiments are carried out to observe the water dynamics from droplets accumulation to detachment. The results reveal that the sub-channel achieves drainage performance by enhancing the gas pressure difference to overcome the wall adhesion. A wall contact angle of not less than 110° and an included angle to the main channel of not more than 60° are the prerequisites for the effective water removal of the sub-channel. The optimal design of the sub-channel is obtained to achieve better drainage performance. In addition, it is found that the effects of the sub-channel on water droplets will be weakened when the main channel period is densified to 1.5 mm or less, which is usually adopted to improve the mass transfer capacity under the ribs.

Suggested Citation

  • Liao, Shuxin & Qiu, Diankai & Yi, Peiyun & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2022. "Modeling of a novel cathode flow field design with optimized sub-channels to improve drainage for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:261:y:2022:i:pb:s0360544222021235
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.125235
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544222021235
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2022.125235?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wu, Horng-Wen, 2016. "A review of recent development: Transport and performance modeling of PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 81-106.
    2. Pourrahmani, Hossein & Van herle, Jan, 2022. "Water management of the proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Optimizing the effect of microstructural properties on the gas diffusion layer liquid removal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    3. Cai, Yonghua & Fang, Zhou & Chen, Ben & Yang, Tianqi & Tu, Zhengkai, 2018. "Numerical study on a novel 3D cathode flow field and evaluation criteria for the PEM fuel cell design," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 28-37.
    4. Rostami, Leila & Haghshenasfard, Masoud & Sadeghi, Morteza & Zhiani, Mohammad, 2022. "A 3D CFD model of novel flow channel designs based on the serpentine and the parallel design for performance enhancement of PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    5. Najmi, Aezid-Ul-Hassan & Anyanwu, Ikechukwu S. & Xie, Xu & Liu, Zhi & Jiao, Kui, 2021. "Experimental investigation and optimization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell using different flow fields," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    6. Afra, Mehran & Nazari, Mohsen & Kayhani, Mohammad Hasan & Sharifpur, M. & Meyer, J.P., 2019. "3D experimental visualization of water flooding in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 967-977.
    7. Huang, Haozhong & Liu, Mingxin & Li, Xuan & Guo, Xiaoyu & Wang, Tongying & Li, Songwei & Lei, Han, 2022. "Numerical simulation and visualization study of a new tapered-slope serpentine flow field in proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    8. Sharaf, Omar Z. & Orhan, Mehmet F., 2014. "An overview of fuel cell technology: Fundamentals and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 810-853.
    9. Guo, Hang & Liu, Xuan & Zhao, Jian Fu & Ye, Fang & Ma, Chong Fang, 2016. "Effect of low gravity on water removal inside proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with different flow channel configurations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 926-934.
    10. Hwang, Jenn-Jiang & Dlamini, Mangaliso Menzi & Weng, Fang-Bor & Chang, Tseng & Lin, Chih-Hong & Weng, Shih-Cheng, 2022. "Simulation of fine mesh implementation on the cathode for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PA).
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Wang, Yun & Chen, Ken S. & Mishler, Jeffrey & Cho, Sung Chan & Adroher, Xavier Cordobes, 2011. "A review of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Technology, applications, and needs on fundamental research," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 981-1007, April.
    14. 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.
    15. Dimitrova, Zlatina & Nader, Wissam Bou, 2022. "PEM fuel cell as an auxiliary power unit for range extended hybrid electric vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PA).
    16. Xuyang Zhang & Andrew Higier & Xu Zhang & Hongtan Liu, 2019. "Experimental Studies of Effect of Land Width in PEM Fuel Cells with Serpentine Flow Field and Carbon Cloth," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-10, February.
    17. Iranzo, A. & Arredondo, C.H. & Kannan, A.M. & Rosa, F., 2020. "Biomimetic flow fields for proton exchange membrane fuel cells: A review of design trends," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    18. Fan, Lixin & Tu, Zhengkai & Chan, Siew Hwa, 2022. "Technological and Engineering design of a megawatt proton exchange membrane fuel cell system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yulin Wang & Xiangling Liao & Guokun Liu & Haokai Xu & Chao Guan & Huixuan Wang & Hua Li & Wei He & Yanzhou Qin, 2023. "Review of Flow Field Designs for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-54, May.
    2. Li, Jinguang & Ke, Yuzhi & Yuan, Wei & Bai, Yafeng & Zhang, Baotong & Liu, Zi'ang & Lin, Zhenhe & Liu, Qingsen & Tang, Yong, 2023. "Enhancement of two-phase flow and mass transport by a two-dimensional flow channel with variable cross-sections in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P2).
    3. Rahmani, Ebrahim & Moradi, Tofigh & Ghandehariun, Samane & Naterer, Greg F. & Ranjbar, Amirhossein, 2023. "Enhanced mass transfer and water discharge in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with a raccoon channel flow field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hwang, Jenn-Jiang & Dlamini, Mangaliso Menzi & Weng, Fang-Bor & Chang, Tseng & Lin, Chih-Hong & Weng, Shih-Cheng, 2022. "Simulation of fine mesh implementation on the cathode for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PA).
    2. Najmi, Aezid-Ul-Hassan & Anyanwu, Ikechukwu S. & Xie, Xu & Liu, Zhi & Jiao, Kui, 2021. "Experimental investigation and optimization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell using different flow fields," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    3. Xiong, Kangning & Wu, Wei & Wang, Shuangfeng & Zhang, Lin, 2021. "Modeling, design, materials and fabrication of bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cell: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Zhao, Junjie & Tu, Zhengkai & Chan, Siew Hwa, 2022. "In-situ measurement of humidity distribution and its effect on the performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PD).
    6. Rostami, Leila & Haghshenasfard, Masoud & Sadeghi, Morteza & Zhiani, Mohammad, 2022. "A 3D CFD model of novel flow channel designs based on the serpentine and the parallel design for performance enhancement of PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    7. Li, Jinguang & Ke, Yuzhi & Yuan, Wei & Bai, Yafeng & Zhang, Baotong & Liu, Zi'ang & Lin, Zhenhe & Liu, Qingsen & Tang, Yong, 2023. "Enhancement of two-phase flow and mass transport by a two-dimensional flow channel with variable cross-sections in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P2).
    8. Zhou, Yu & Chen, Ben & Chen, Wenshang & Deng, Qihao & Shen, Jun & Tu, Zhengkai, 2022. "A novel opposite sinusoidal wave flow channel for performance enhancement of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    9. Zhang, Xiaoqing & Yang, Jiapei & Ma, Xiao & Zhuge, Weilin & Shuai, Shijin, 2022. "Modelling and analysis on effects of penetration of microporous layer into gas diffusion layer in PEM fuel cells: Focusing on mass transport," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).
    10. Wu, Horng-Wen & Ho, Tzu-Yi & Han, Yueh-Jung, 2021. "Parametric optimization of wall-mounted cuboid rows installed in interdigitated flow channel of HT-PEM fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    11. Antoine Bäumler & Jianwen Meng & Abdelmoudjib Benterki & Toufik Azib & Moussa Boukhnifer, 2023. "A System-Level Modeling of PEMFC Considering Degradation Aspect towards a Diagnosis Process," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-19, July.
    12. Xiao, Fei & Chen, Tao & Gan, Zhongyu & Zhang, Ruixuan, 2023. "The influence of external operating conditions on membrane drying faults of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    13. Zhou, Yu & Chen, Ben & Meng, Kai & Zhou, Haoran & Chen, Wenshang & Zhang, Ning & Deng, Qihao & Yang, Guanghua & Tu, Zhengkai, 2023. "Optimal design of a cathode flow field for performance enhancement of PEM fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
    14. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Wang, Zhuo & Wang, Yonggang & Gu, Meng & Yang, Xi & Zhang, Shuanyang & Cao, Jing & Fang, Haoyan & Li, Qiming, 2024. "Performance and configuration optimization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell considering dual symmetric Tesla valve flow field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    15. Cai, Yonghua & Wu, Di & Sun, Jingming & Chen, Ben, 2021. "The effect of cathode channel blockages on the enhanced mass transfer and performance of PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    16. Suárez, Christian & Iranzo, Alfredo & Toharias, Baltasar & Rosa, Felipe, 2022. "Experimental and numerical Investigation on the design of a bioinspired PEM fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    17. Ćalasan, Martin & Abdel Aleem, Shady H.E. & Hasanien, Hany M. & Alaas, Zuhair M. & Ali, Ziad M., 2023. "An innovative approach for mathematical modeling and parameter estimation of PEM fuel cells based on iterative Lambert W function," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    18. Huang, Haozhong & Liu, Mingxin & Li, Xuan & Guo, Xiaoyu & Wang, Tongying & Li, Songwei & Lei, Han, 2022. "Numerical simulation and visualization study of a new tapered-slope serpentine flow field in proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    19. Sun, Yun & Lin, Yixiong & Wang, Qinglian & Yang, Chen & Yin, Wang & Wan, Zhongmin & Qiu, Ting, 2024. "Novel design and numerical investigation of a windward bend flow field for proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    20. Yonghua Cai & Jingming Sun & Fan Wei & Ben Chen, 2022. "Effect of Baffle Dimensionless Size Factor on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:261:y:2022:i:pb:s0360544222021235. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.