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Investigation of the liquid water distributions in a 50 cm2 PEM fuel cell: Effects of reactants relative humidity, current density, and cathode stoichiometry

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  • Iranzo, Alfredo
  • Boillat, Pierre
  • Biesdorf, Johannes
  • Salva, Antonio

Abstract

A 50 cm2 commercial PEM fuel cell has been used to investigate the effects of a set of different operating conditions on the resulting liquid water distributions in the cell. A comprehensive matrix of operating conditions was analyzed, varying the reactants relative humidity (anode and cathode), cathode stoichiometry, and cell current density. Neutron imaging was used to determine the liquid water distributions within the cell for each operating condition. The obtained neutron radiographs were post-processed and analyzed in order to assess the effects of the different operating conditions. Cell voltage and cell resistance (High Frequency Resistance) were also monitored during the experiments and included in the analysis. Overall, the well-known water distributions corresponding to serpentine flow fields were observed, featuring a progressive water accumulation along the gas flow and towards the outlet port. Cathode channels were showing water accumulation. It was found that the cathode relative humidity had a much larger effect on the cell water content and overall performance than the anode relative humidity for this particular cell.

Suggested Citation

  • Iranzo, Alfredo & Boillat, Pierre & Biesdorf, Johannes & Salva, Antonio, 2015. "Investigation of the liquid water distributions in a 50 cm2 PEM fuel cell: Effects of reactants relative humidity, current density, and cathode stoichiometry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 914-921.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:82:y:2015:i:c:p:914-921
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.01.101
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    7. Ferreira, Rui B. & Falcão, D.S. & Oliveira, V.B. & Pinto, A.M.F.R., 2017. "1D+3D two-phase flow numerical model of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 474-495.
    8. 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).
    9. Iranzo, Alfredo & Boillat, Pierre, 2018. "CFD simulation of the transient gas transport in a PEM fuel cell cathode during AC impedance testing considering liquid water effects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 449-457.
    10. 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.
    11. Hu, Junming & Li, Jianqiu & Xu, Liangfei & Huang, Fusen & Ouyang, Minggao, 2016. "Analytical calculation and evaluation of water transport through a proton exchange membrane fuel cell based on a one-dimensional model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 869-883.
    12. Salva, J. Antonio & Iranzo, Alfredo & Rosa, Felipe & Tapia, Elvira, 2016. "Validation of cell voltage and water content in a PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cell model using neutron imaging for different operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 100-112.
    13. Pei, Houchang & Xiao, Chenguang & Tu, Zhengkai, 2022. "Experimental study on liquid water formation characteristics in a novel transparent proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    14. Mojtaba Baghban Yousefkhani & Hossein Ghadamian & Keyvan Daneshvar & Nima Alizadeh & Brendy C. Rincon Troconis, 2020. "Investigation of the Fuel Utilization Factor in PEM Fuel Cell Considering the Effect of Relative Humidity at the Cathode," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-11, November.
    15. 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.
    16. Yang, Zirong & Du, Qing & Jia, Zhiwei & Yang, Chunguang & Xuan, Jin & Jiao, Kui, 2019. "A comprehensive proton exchange membrane fuel cell system model integrating various auxiliary subsystems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    17. Xing, Lei & Du, Shangfeng & Chen, Rui & Mamlouk, Mohamed & Scott, Keith, 2016. "Anode partial flooding modelling of proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Model development and validation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 80-95.
    18. Díaz, Manuel Antonio & Iranzo, Alfredo & Rosa, Felipe & Isorna, Fernando & López, Eduardo & Bolivar, Juan Pedro, 2015. "Effect of carbon dioxide on the contamination of low temperature and high temperature PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cells. Influence of temperature, relative humidity and analysis of regener," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 299-309.
    19. Al-Hadeethi, Farqad & Al-Nimr, Moh'd & Al-Safadi, Mohammad, 2015. "Using the multiple regression analysis with respect to ANOVA and 3D mapping to model the actual performance of PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell at various operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 475-482.
    20. 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).
    21. Kim, Ah-Reum & Shin, Seungho & Um, Sukkee, 2016. "Multidisciplinary approaches to metallic bipolar plate design with bypass flow fields through deformable gas diffusion media of polymer electrolyte fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 378-389.
    22. Xing, Lei & Cai, Qiong & Xu, Chenxi & Liu, Chunbo & Scott, Keith & Yan, Yongsheng, 2016. "Numerical study of the effect of relative humidity and stoichiometric flow ratio on PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell performance with various channel lengths: An anode partial flooding modelli," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 631-645.
    23. 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.
    24. Zhiani, Mohammad & Majidi, Somayeh & Silva, Valter Bruno & Gharibi, Hussein, 2016. "Comparison of the performance and EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) response of an activated PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) under low and high thermal and pressure stresses," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 560-567.

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