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Numerical Investigations of the Combined Effects of Flow Rate and Methanol Concentration on DMFC Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Xuqu Hu

    (State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China)

  • Xingyi Wang

    (State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China)

  • Juanzhong Chen

    (State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China)

  • Qinwen Yang

    (State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China)

  • Dapeng Jin

    (State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China)

  • Xiang Qiu

    (College of Science, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai 201418, China)

Abstract

A modified 3D numerical model on the energy conversion process in the anode side of a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) system was constructed and validated to published experimental results. Systematic simulations were performed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of the energy conversion process, and the combined effects of inlet flow rate and input methanol concentration were summarized systematically. The increase of flow rate was found to be an effective strategy to accelerate the internal flow fields, while the diffusion layer was proposed to be a critical component in the design of high-performance DMFC. The frontier for optimal conditions of DMFC’s output was also determined, which can be helpful to improve the energy conversion performance of DMFC in practical applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuqu Hu & Xingyi Wang & Juanzhong Chen & Qinwen Yang & Dapeng Jin & Xiang Qiu, 2017. "Numerical Investigations of the Combined Effects of Flow Rate and Methanol Concentration on DMFC Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:8:p:1094-:d:105908
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Ko, Johan & Chippar, Purushothama & Ju, Hyunchul, 2010. "A one-dimensional, two-phase model for direct methanol fuel cells – Part I: Model development and parametric study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2149-2159.
    3. Wang, Luwen & He, Mingyan & Hu, Yue & Zhang, Yufeng & Liu, Xiaowei & Wang, Gaofeng, 2015. "A “4-cell” modular passive DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) stack for portable applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 229-235.
    4. Nguyen Duy Vinh & Hyung-Man Kim, 2016. "Comparison of Numerical and Experimental Studies for Flow-Field Optimization Based on Under-Rib Convection in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-17, October.
    5. Youngseung Na & Federico Zenith & Ulrike Krewer, 2015. "Increasing Fuel Efficiency of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Systems with Feedforward Control of the Operating Concentration," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-21, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chung-Jen Chou & Shyh-Biau Jiang & Tse-Liang Yeh & Li-Duan Tsai & Ku-Yen Kang & Ching-Jung Liu, 2020. "A Portable Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Power Station for Long-Term Internet of Things Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-13, July.
    2. 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.

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