IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v11y2018i6p1403-d149797.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Numerical Investigation of Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow inside PEMFC Gas Channels with Rectangular and Trapezoidal Cross Sections

Author

Listed:
  • Jin Hyun Kim

    (Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Kongju National University, 1223-24 Cheonan Daero, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan 31080, Chungnam, Korea)

  • Woo Tae Kim

    (Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Kongju National University, 1223-24 Cheonan Daero, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan 31080, Chungnam, Korea)

Abstract

The dynamics of liquid water in the gas channels with rectangular sections (REC), trapezoidal sections with open angles of 60 degrees (T60), and trapezoidal sections with open angles of 72 degrees (T72) are numerically investigated via the volume of fluid method. The effects of the contact angle of the top and side walls (CATS), the water inlet configuration, and the air inlet velocity are studied based on the temporal evolution of gas-liquid interface, the water volume fraction (WVF), the water coverage ratio of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface (GWCR), and the pressure drop between the air inlet and the outlet. For the hydrophobic GDL surface and the hydrophilic top and side walls, the T72 provides the lowest WVF and GWCR of around 7 percent due to periodic pressure spikes. The REC and T60 show a higher WVF and a lower GWCR as most of liquid water moves along the channel while attached to the top wall. As the CATS increases from 60 to 120 degrees, the behaviors of liquid water become similar for the three cross-sectional shapes. The T72 shows especially similar results irrespective of the CATS. When the liquid water emergence is concentrated along the side wall, the T72 shows the best water removal characteristics. For all the three channel cross-sectional shapes, water slugs move faster and have smaller sizes as the air inlet velocity increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Jin Hyun Kim & Woo Tae Kim, 2018. "Numerical Investigation of Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow inside PEMFC Gas Channels with Rectangular and Trapezoidal Cross Sections," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:6:p:1403-:d:149797
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/6/1403/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/6/1403/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Jin Hyun Kim & Gwang Goo Lee & Woo Tae Kim, 2017. "Comparison of Liquid Water Dynamics in Bent Gas Channels of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell with Different Channel Cross Sections in a Channel Flooding Situation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Sun-Joon Byun & Zhen Huan Wang & Jun Son & Dong-Kurl Kwak & Young-Chul Kwon, 2018. "Experimental Study on Improvement of Performance by Wave Form Cathode Channels in a PEM Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Cheng Wang & Shubo Wang & Linfa Peng & Junliang Zhang & Zhigang Shao & Jun Huang & Chunwen Sun & Minggao Ouyang & Xiangming He, 2016. "Recent Progress on the Key Materials and Components for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells in Vehicle Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-39, July.
    5. Hossain, Mamdud & Islam, Sheikh Zahidul & Colley-Davies, Amy & Adom, Ebenezer, 2013. "Water dynamics inside a cathode channel of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 763-779.
    6. Yanzhou Qin & Xuefeng Wang & Rouxian Chen & Xiang Shangguan, 2018. "Water Transport and Removal in PEMFC Gas Flow Channel with Various Water Droplet Locations and Channel Surface Wettability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.
    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. 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).
    2. Liu, Lina & Guo, Lingyi & Zhang, Ruiyuan & Chen, Li & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2021. "Numerically investigating two-phase reactive transport in multiple gas channels of proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    3. Ikechukwu S. Anyanwu & Yuze Hou & Wenmiao Chen & Fengwen Pan & Qing Du & Jin Xuan & Kui Jiao, 2019. "Numerical Investigation of Liquid Water Transport Dynamics in Novel Hybrid Sinusoidal Flow Channel Designs for PEMFC," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-20, October.
    4. Ikechukwu S. Anyanwu & Zhiqiang Niu & Daokuan Jiao & Aezid-Ul-Hassan Najmi & Zhi Liu & Kui Jiao, 2020. "Liquid Water Transport Behavior at GDL-Channel Interface of a Wave-Like Channel," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-20, May.

    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. Devin Fowler & Vladimir Gurau & Daniel Cox, 2019. "Bridging the Gap between Automated Manufacturing of Fuel Cell Components and Robotic Assembly of Fuel Cell Stacks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Jin Hyun Kim & Gwang Goo Lee & Woo Tae Kim, 2017. "Comparison of Liquid Water Dynamics in Bent Gas Channels of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell with Different Channel Cross Sections in a Channel Flooding Situation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Mengying Fan & Fengyun Duan & Tianqi Wang & Mingming Kang & Bin Zeng & Jian Xu & Ryan Anderson & Wei Du & Lifeng Zhang, 2021. "Effect of Pore Shape and Spacing on Water Droplet Dynamics in Flow Channels of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    4. Ming Peng & Enci Dong & Li Chen & Yu Wang & Wen-Quan Tao, 2022. "Effects of Cathode Gas Diffusion Layer Configuration on the Performance of Open Cathode Air-Cooled Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-21, August.
    5. Fu-Cheng Wang & Kuang-Ming Lin, 2018. "Impacts of Load Profiles on the Optimization of Power Management of a Green Building Employing Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Feng, Pengfei & Tan, Ligang & Cao, Yucheng & Chen, Ding, 2023. "Numerical investigations of two-phase flow coupled with species transport in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).
    7. Alisa Kozhushner & Qing Li & Lior Elbaz, 2023. "Heteroatom-Doped Carbon Supports with Enhanced Corrosion Resistance in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-15, April.
    8. 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.
    9. Julian Büsselmann & Maren Rastedt & Tomas Klicpera & Karsten Reinwald & Henrike Schmies & Alexander Dyck & Peter Wagner, 2020. "Analysis of HT-PEM MEAs’ Long-Term Stabilities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-16, January.
    10. Mohamed Derbeli & Oscar Barambones & Jose Antonio Ramos-Hernanz & Lassaad Sbita, 2019. "Real-Time Implementation of a Super Twisting Algorithm for PEM Fuel Cell Power System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-20, April.
    11. 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).
    12. Alessandro Arrigoni & Valeria Arosio & Andrea Basso Peressut & Saverio Latorrata & Giovanni Dotelli, 2022. "Greenhouse Gas Implications of Extending the Service Life of PEM Fuel Cells for Automotive Applications: A Life Cycle Assessment," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-17, February.
    13. 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.
    14. N. Ibrahim-Rassoul & E.-K. Si-Ahmed & A. Serir & A. Kessi & J. Legrand & N. Djilali, 2019. "Investigation of Two-Phase Flow in a Hydrophobic Fuel-Cell Micro-Channel," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-32, May.
    15. Ashrafi, Moosa & Shams, Mehrzad, 2017. "The effects of flow-field orientation on water management in PEM fuel cells with serpentine channels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 1083-1096.
    16. Ikechukwu S. Anyanwu & Zhiqiang Niu & Daokuan Jiao & Aezid-Ul-Hassan Najmi & Zhi Liu & Kui Jiao, 2020. "Liquid Water Transport Behavior at GDL-Channel Interface of a Wave-Like Channel," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-20, May.
    17. Wang, Yulin & Wang, Xiaodong & Wang, Xiaoai & Liu, Tao & Zhu, Tingting & Liu, Shengchun & Qin, Yanzhou, 2021. "Droplet dynamic characteristics on PEM fuel cell cathode gas diffusion layer with gradient pore size distribution," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 864-874.
    18. Qin, Yanzhou & Guo, Qiaoyu & Chen, Rouxian & Zhuang, Yuan & Wang, Yulin, 2021. "Numerical investigation of water droplet impact on PEM fuel cell flow channel surface," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 750-763.
    19. Saverio Latorrata & Paola Gallo Stampino & Cinzia Cristiani & Giovanni Dotelli, 2017. "Performance Evaluation and Durability Enhancement of FEP-Based Gas Diffusion Media for PEM Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.

    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:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:6:p:1403-:d:149797. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.