IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i22p6117-d449164.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigation of the Fuel Utilization Factor in PEM Fuel Cell Considering the Effect of Relative Humidity at the Cathode

Author

Listed:
  • Mojtaba Baghban Yousefkhani

    (Department of Energy, Materials and Energy Research Center (MERC), Tehran 4777-14155, Iran)

  • Hossein Ghadamian

    (Department of Energy, Materials and Energy Research Center (MERC), Tehran 4777-14155, Iran)

  • Keyvan Daneshvar

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA)

  • Nima Alizadeh

    (Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch (SRBIAU), Tehran 775-14515, Iran)

  • Brendy C. Rincon Troconis

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA)

Abstract

This research consists of both theoretical and experimental sections presenting a novel scenario for the consumption of hydrogen in the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). In the theory section, a new correction factor called parameter δ is used for the calculation of fuel utilization by introducing concepts of “useful water” and “non-useful water”. The term of “useful water” refers to the state that consumed hydrogen leads to the production of liquid water and external electric current. In the experimental section, the effect of the relative humidity of the cathode side on the performance and power density is investigated by calculating the parameter δ and the modified fuel utilization at 50% and 80% relative humidity. Based on the experimental results, the maximum power density obtained at 50% and 80% relative humidity of the cathode side is about 645 mW/cm 2 and 700 mW/cm 2 , respectively. On the other hand, the maximum value of parameter δ for a value of 50% relative humidity in the cathode side is about 0.88, while for 80% relative humidity it is about 0.72. This means that the modified fuel utilization for 50% relative humidity has a higher value than that for 80%, which is not aligned with previous literature. Therefore, it is necessary to find an optimal range for the relative humidity of the cathode side to achieve the best cell performance in terms of the power generation and fuel consumption as increasing the relative humidity of the cathode itself cannot produce the best result.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:22:p:6117-:d:449164
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6117/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6117/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ozen, Dilek Nur & Timurkutluk, Bora & Altinisik, Kemal, 2016. "Effects of operation temperature and reactant gas humidity levels on performance of PEM fuel cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1298-1306.
    2. Hasheminasab, M. & Kermani, M.J. & Nourazar, S.S. & Khodsiani, M.H., 2020. "A novel experimental based statistical study for water management in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    3. Abdollahzadeh, M. & Pascoa, J.C. & Ranjbar, A.A. & Esmaili, Q., 2014. "Analysis of PEM (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) fuel cell cathode two-dimensional modeling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 478-494.
    4. 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.
    5. Wang, Bowen & Wu, Kangcheng & Xi, Fuqiang & Xuan, Jin & Xie, Xu & Wang, Xiaoyang & Jiao, Kui, 2019. "Numerical analysis of operating conditions effects on PEMFC with anode recirculation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 844-856.
    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. Hoang Nghia Vu & Xuan Linh Nguyen & Sangseok Yu, 2022. "A Lumped-Mass Model of Membrane Humidifier for PEMFC," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, March.
    2. Luca Del Zotto & Andrea Monforti Ferrario & Arda Hatunoglu & Alessandro Dell’Era & Stephen McPhail & Enrico Bocci, 2021. "Experimental Procedures & First Results of an Innovative Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Test Rig: Parametric Analysis and Stability Test," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-19, April.
    3. Yuzhen Xia & Hangwei Lei & Xiaojun Wu & Guilin Hu & Hao Pan & Baizeng Fang, 2023. "Design of New Test System for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-11, January.

    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. 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).
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Qiu, Diankai & Peng, Linfa & Tang, Jiayu & Lai, Xinmin, 2020. "Numerical analysis of air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cells with various cathode flow channels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    5. Ozen, Dilek Nur & Timurkutluk, Bora & Altinisik, Kemal, 2016. "Effects of operation temperature and reactant gas humidity levels on performance of PEM fuel cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1298-1306.
    6. 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).
    7. 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).
    8. 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.
    9. Abdin, Z. & Webb, C.J. & Gray, E.MacA., 2016. "PEM fuel cell model and simulation in Matlab–Simulink based on physical parameters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 1131-1144.
    10. Somayeh Toghyani & Seyed Ali Atyabi & Xin Gao, 2021. "Enhancing the Specific Power of a PEM Fuel Cell Powered UAV with a Novel Bean-Shaped Flow Field," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-23, April.
    11. Abdollahzadeh, M. & Ribeirinha, P. & Boaventura, M. & Mendes, A., 2018. "Three-dimensional modeling of PEMFC with contaminated anode fuel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 939-959.
    12. 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.
    13. Lu Zhang & Yongfeng Liu & Pucheng Pei & Xintong Liu & Long Wang & Yuan Wan, 2022. "Variation Characteristic Analysis of Water Content at the Flow Channel of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, April.
    14. Ruan, Zhaohui & Sun, Weiwei & Yuan, Yuan & Tan, Heping, 2023. "Accurately forecasting solar radiation distribution at both spatial and temporal dimensions simultaneously with fully-convolutional deep neural network model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    15. Zijun Li & Jianguo Wang & Shubo Wang & Weiwei Li & Xiaofeng Xie, 2023. "Liquid Water Transport Characteristics and Droplet Dynamics of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells with 3D Wave Channel," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-19, August.
    16. Yao, Jing & Wu, Zhen & Wang, Huan & Yang, Fusheng & Xuan, Jin & Xing, Lei & Ren, Jianwei & Zhang, Zaoxiao, 2022. "Design and multi-objective optimization of low-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells with efficient water recovery and high electrochemical performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    17. Sun, Zhe & Wang, Ning & Bi, Yunrui & Srinivasan, Dipti, 2015. "Parameter identification of PEMFC model based on hybrid adaptive differential evolution algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P2), pages 1334-1341.
    18. 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.
    19. Bruni, G. & Cordiner, S. & Mulone, V. & Sinisi, V. & Spagnolo, F., 2016. "Energy management in a domestic microgrid by means of model predictive controllers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 119-131.
    20. Elisabetta Arato & Marzia Pinna & Michela Mazzoccoli & Barbara Bosio, 2016. "Gas-Phase Mass-Transfer Resistances at Polymeric Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells Electrodes: Theoretical Analysis on the Effectiveness of Interdigitated and Serpentine Flow Arrangements," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-16, March.

    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:13:y:2020:i:22:p:6117-:d:449164. 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.