IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i9p2494-d544434.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhancing the Specific Power of a PEM Fuel Cell Powered UAV with a Novel Bean-Shaped Flow Field

Author

Listed:
  • Somayeh Toghyani

    (Institute of Energy and Process Systems Engineering, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
    Cluster of Excellence SE2A—Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany)

  • Seyed Ali Atyabi

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran)

  • Xin Gao

    (Institute of Energy and Process Systems Engineering, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
    Cluster of Excellence SE2A—Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany)

Abstract

One of the marketing challenges of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for various applications is enhancing flight durability. Due to the superior characteristics of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), they have the potential to reach a longer flight time and higher payload. In this regard, a numerical assessment of a UAV air-cooled PEMFC is carried out using a three-dimensional (3-D), multiphase, and non-isothermal model on three flow fields, i.e., unblocked bean-shaped, blocked bean-shaped, and parallel. Then, the results of single-cell modeling are generalized to the PEMFC stack to provide the power of 2.5 kW for a UAV. The obtained results indicate that the strategy of rising air stoichiometry for cooling performs well in the unblocked bean-shaped design, and the maximum temperature along the channel length reaches 331.5 K at the air stoichiometric of 30. Further, it is found that the best performance of a 2.5 kW PEMFC stack is attained by the bean-shaped design without blockage, of which its volume and mass power density are 1.1 kW L −1 and 0.2 kW kg −1 , respectively. It is 9.4% lighter and 6.9% more compact than the parallel flow field. Therefore, the unblocked bean-shaped design can be a good option for aerial applications.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:9:p:2494-:d:544434
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2494/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2494/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hosseini, Mirollah & Afrouzi, Hamid Hassanzadeh & Arasteh, Hossein & Toghraie, Davood, 2019. "Energy analysis of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with an open-ended anode using agglomerate model: A CFD study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    2. Yin, Cong & Gao, Yan & Li, Ting & Xie, Guangyou & Li, Kai & Tang, Hao, 2020. "Study of internal multi-parameter distributions of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with segmented cell device and coupled three-dimensional model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 650-662.
    3. Atyabi, Seyed Ali & Afshari, Ebrahim & Wongwises, Somchai & Yan, Wen-Mon & Hadjadj, Abdellah & Shadloo, Mostafa Safdari, 2019. "Effects of assembly pressure on PEM fuel cell performance by taking into accounts electrical and thermal contact resistances," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 490-501.
    4. 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.
    5. Perng, Shiang-Wuu & Wu, Horng-Wen & Shih, Gin-Jang, 2015. "Effect of prominent gas diffusion layer (GDL) on non-isothermal transport characteristics and cell performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 126-138.
    6. Dabiri, Soroush & Hashemi, Mohammadreza & Rahimi, Mohammadfazel & Bahiraei, Mehdi & Khodabandeh, Erfan, 2018. "Design of an innovative distributor to improve flow uniformity using cylindrical obstacles in header of a fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 719-731.
    7. Boukoberine, Mohamed Nadir & Zhou, Zhibin & Benbouzid, Mohamed, 2019. "A critical review on unmanned aerial vehicles power supply and energy management: Solutions, strategies, and prospects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Awin, Yussef & Dukhan, Nihad, 2019. "Experimental performance assessment of metal-foam flow fields for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Lim, B.H. & Majlan, E.H. & Daud, W.R.W. & Rosli, M.I. & Husaini, T., 2019. "Three-dimensional study of stack on the performance of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 338-343.
    12. Pei, Pucheng & Chen, Huicui, 2014. "Main factors affecting the lifetime of Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells in vehicle applications: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 60-75.
    13. 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. Atyabi, Seyed Ali & Afshari, Ebrahim & Zohravi, Elnaz & Udemu, Chinonyelum M., 2021. "Three-dimensional simulation of different flow fields of proton exchange membrane fuel cell using a multi-phase coupled model with cooling channel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    2. Atyabi, Seyed Ali & Afshari, Ebrahim & Shakarami, Negar, 2023. "Three-dimensional multiphase modeling of the performance of an open-cathode PEM fuel cell with additional cooling channels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PA).
    3. 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.
    4. Zhou, Kehan & Liu, Zhiwei & Zhang, Xin & Liu, Hang & Meng, Nan & Huang, Jianmei & Qi, Mingjing & Song, Xizhen & Yan, Xiaojun, 2022. "A kW-level integrated propulsion system for UAV powered by PEMFC with inclined cathode flow structure design," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    5. Sarjuni, C.A. & Lim, B.H. & Majlan, E.H. & Rosli, M.I., 2024. "A review: Fluid dynamic and mass transport behaviour in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 193(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. 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).
    2. Zhang, Jian & Huang, Pengyi & Ding, Honghui & Xin, Dongqun & Sun, Shufeng, 2023. "Investigation of the three-dimensional flow field for proton exchange membrane fuel cell with additive manufactured stainless steel bipolar plates: Numerical simulation and experiments," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    3. 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).
    4. 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.
    5. Zhang, Lu & Liu, Jie & Du, Shaojie & Zhao, Chen, 2024. "Multiphase flow dynamics in metal foam proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    6. Jiang, Wei & Zhang, Kai & Huang, Xing & Cai, Zhen & Zheng, Jinjin & Kai, Yue & Zheng, Bailin & Song, Ke, 2024. "Influence of clamping pressure on contact pressure uniformity and electrical output performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    7. Xia, Zhifeng & Chen, Huicui & Zhang, Ruirui & Weng, Qianyao & Zhang, Tong & Pei, Pucheng, 2023. "Behavior analysis of PEMFC with geometric configuration variation during multiple-step loading reduction process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 349(C).
    8. Xinjie Xu & Kai Li & Zhenjie Liao & Jishen Cao & Renkang Wang, 2022. "A Closed-Loop Water Management Methodology for PEM Fuel Cell System Based on Impedance Information Feedback," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-16, October.
    9. Abdollahipour, Armin & Sayyaadi, Hoseyn, 2022. "A novel electrochemical refrigeration system based on the combined proton exchange membrane fuel cell-electrolyzer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    10. 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).
    11. Liu, Jiaran & Tan, Jinzhu & Yang, Weizhan & Li, Yang & Wang, Chao, 2021. "Better electrochemical performance of PEMFC under a novel pneumatic clamping mechanism," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    12. Sarjuni, C.A. & Lim, B.H. & Majlan, E.H. & Rosli, M.I., 2024. "A review: Fluid dynamic and mass transport behaviour in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    13. Prapainainar, Paweena & Du, Zehui & Theampetch, Apichaya & Prapainainar, Chaiwat & Kongkachuichay, Paisan & Holmes, Stuart M., 2020. "Properties and DMFC performance of nafion/mordenite composite membrane fabricated by solution-casting method with different solvent ratio," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    14. Chen, Hao & Guo, Hang & Ye, Fang & MA, Chong Fang, 2022. "Cell performance and flow losses of proton exchange membrane fuel cells with orientated-type flow channels," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 1338-1352.
    15. Atyabi, Seyed Ali & Afshari, Ebrahim & Wongwises, Somchai & Yan, Wen-Mon & Hadjadj, Abdellah & Shadloo, Mostafa Safdari, 2019. "Effects of assembly pressure on PEM fuel cell performance by taking into accounts electrical and thermal contact resistances," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 490-501.
    16. Suprava Chakraborty & Devaraj Elangovan & Karthikeyan Palaniswamy & Ashley Fly & Dineshkumar Ravi & Denis Ashok Sathia Seelan & Thundil Karuppa Raj Rajagopal, 2022. "A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-21, December.
    17. Son, Jonghyun & Um, Sukkee & Kim, Young-Beom, 2022. "Relationship between number of turns of serpentine structure with metal foam flow field and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell performance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 372-383.
    18. Li, Qifeng & Sun, Kai & Suo, Mengshan & Zeng, Zhen & Guan, Chengshuo & Liu, Huaiyu & Che, Zhizhao & Wang, Tianyou, 2024. "Water transport in PEMFC with metal foam flow fields: Visualization based on AI image recognition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 365(C).
    19. Huang, Fuxiang & Qiu, Diankai & Xu, Zhutian & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2021. "Analysis and improvement of flow distribution in manifold for proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    20. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Wang, Zhuo & Yang, Xi & Fang, Haoyan & Li, Qiming & Cao, Jing, 2024. "Investigation on performance of full-scale proton exchange membrane fuel cell: Porous foam flow field with integrated bipolar plate/gas diffusion layer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).

    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:14:y:2021:i:9:p:2494-:d:544434. 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.