IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i9p3770-d1135267.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigating the Parameter-Driven Cathode Gas Diffusion of PEMFCs with a Piecewise Linearization Model

Author

Listed:
  • Siwen Gu

    (School of Photoelectric Engineering, Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou 213032, China
    Frontiers Science Center for Smart Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Process Systems Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China)

  • Jiaan Wang

    (School of Photoelectric Engineering, Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou 213032, China)

  • Xinmin You

    (Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy (FAME), Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 15, 2629 JB Delft, The Netherlands)

  • Yu Zhuang

    (Frontiers Science Center for Smart Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Process Systems Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China)

Abstract

Improving mass transfer in gas diffusion layers is critical to achieving high-performance proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Leaks through the interface between the gas and the membrane electrode assembly frame have been widely investigated, and the controllability of the cathode gas diffusion has not been achieved in most studies. In this study, we develop a structural parameter to investigate the controllability of the gas diffusion mechanism in the cathode in order to improve upon the design and performance of PEMFCs. This parameter accounts for the cathode gas diffusion layer porosity and carbon loading inside the catalyst layer. It is comprehensively calculated to relax the two segments’ distribution along three directions of the coordinate axis. The experimental and simulation results show that the obtained values of the parameter vary and change during voltage stabilization. According to the results, regardless of the materials in the cathode gas diffusion layer, the same steady-state voltage is obtained when the parameter is fixed. The cell could be controllably operated for a wide range of diffusion layer thicknesses by selecting the optimal parameter.

Suggested Citation

  • Siwen Gu & Jiaan Wang & Xinmin You & Yu Zhuang, 2023. "Investigating the Parameter-Driven Cathode Gas Diffusion of PEMFCs with a Piecewise Linearization Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-12, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:9:p:3770-:d:1135267
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/9/3770/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/9/3770/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. He, Pu & Mu, Yu-Tong & Park, Jae Wan & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2020. "Modeling of the effects of cathode catalyst layer design parameters on performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    2. Chu, Tiankuo & Xie, Meng & Yu, Yue & Wang, Baoyun & Yang, Daijun & Li, Bing & Ming, Pingwen & Zhang, Cunman, 2022. "Experimental study of the influence of dynamic load cycle and operating parameters on the durability of PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PD).
    3. Rahman, Md Azimur & Sarker, Mrittunjoy & Mojica, Felipe & Chuang, Po-Ya Abel, 2022. "A physics-based 1-D PEMFC model for simulating two-phase water transport in the electrode and gas diffusion media," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    4. Akira Nishimura & Kyohei Toyoda & Yuya Kojima & Syogo Ito & Eric Hu, 2021. "Numerical Simulation on Impacts of Thickness of Nafion Series Membranes and Relative Humidity on PEMFC Operated at 363 K and 373 K," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-24, December.
    5. Artem Chesalkin & Petr Kacor & Petr Moldrik, 2021. "Heat Transfer Optimization of NEXA Ballard Low-Temperature PEMFC," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Jiao, Daokuan & Jiao, Kui & Zhong, Shenghui & Du, Qing, 2022. "Investigations on heat and mass transfer in gas diffusion layers of PEMFC with a gas–liquid-solid coupled model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    7. Pei, Pucheng & Li, Yuehua & Xu, Huachi & Wu, Ziyao, 2016. "A review on water fault diagnosis of PEMFC associated with the pressure drop," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 366-385.
    8. Yu, Rui Jiao & Guo, Hang & Ye, Fang & Chen, Hao, 2022. "Multi-parameter optimization of stepwise distribution of parameters of gas diffusion layer and catalyst layer for PEMFC peak power density," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    9. Deng, Shutong & Zhang, Jun & Zhang, Caizhi & Luo, Mengzhu & Ni, Meng & Li, Yu & Zeng, Tao, 2022. "Prediction and optimization of gas distribution quality for high-temperature PEMFC based on data-driven surrogate model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    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. Zichen Lu & Ying Yan, 2024. "Temperature Control of Fuel Cell Based on PEI-DDPG," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-19, April.

    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. Bai, Fan & Quan, Hong-Bing & Yin, Ren-Jie & Zhang, Zhuo & Jin, Shu-Qi & He, Pu & Mu, Yu-Tong & Gong, Xiao-Ming & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2022. "Three-dimensional multi-field digital twin technology for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    2. Zhou, Yu & Chen, Ben & Chen, Wenshang & Deng, Qihao & Shen, Jun & Tu, Zhengkai, 2022. "A novel opposite sinusoidal wave flow channel for performance enhancement of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    3. Wang, Chuanjie & Li, Jia & Zhang, Siao & Li, Xiaoke & Duan, Xiao & Wu, Yongquan & Zhang, Qinghao & Yang, Tianrang & Liu, Jianguo, 2024. "High-precision identification of polarization processes of proton exchange membrane fuel cells through relaxation time analysis: Targeted experimental design and verification," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 367(C).
    4. Cabello González, G.M. & Toharias, Baltasar & Iranzo, Alfredo & Suárez, Christian & Rosa, Felipe, 2023. "Voltage distribution analysis and non-uniformity assessment in a 100 cm2 PEM fuel cell stack," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    5. Li, Yuehua & Pei, Pucheng & Ma, Ze & Ren, Peng & Wu, Ziyao & Chen, Dongfang & Huang, Hao, 2019. "Characteristic analysis in lowering current density based on pressure drop for avoiding flooding in proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C), pages 321-329.
    6. Ren, Peng & Pei, Pucheng & Li, Yuehua & Wu, Ziyao & Chen, Dongfang & Huang, Shangwei & Jia, Xiaoning, 2019. "Diagnosis of water failures in proton exchange membrane fuel cell with zero-phase ohmic resistance and fixed-low-frequency impedance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 785-792.
    7. Hossein Pourrahmani & Hamed Shakeri & Jan Van herle, 2022. "Thermoelectric Generator as the Waste Heat Recovery Unit of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell: A Numerical Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, April.
    8. 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).
    9. Ahmed Mohmed Dafalla & Lin Wei & Bereket Tsegai Habte & Jian Guo & Fangming Jiang, 2022. "Membrane Electrode Assembly Degradation Modeling of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-26, December.
    10. Yu, Rui Jiao & Guo, Hang & Ye, Fang & Chen, Hao, 2022. "Multi-parameter optimization of stepwise distribution of parameters of gas diffusion layer and catalyst layer for PEMFC peak power density," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    11. Teng Teng & Xin Zhang & Qicheng Xue & Baodi Zhang, 2024. "Research of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Modeling on Concentration Polarization under Variable-Temperature Operating Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-17, February.
    12. Culubret, S. & Rubio, M.A. & Sanchez, D.G. & Urquia, A., 2024. "Performance uniformity analysis in polymer electrolyte fuel cell using long-term dynamic simulation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 365(C).
    13. Zhang, Qinguo & Tong, Zheming & Tong, Shuiguang & Cheng, Zhewu, 2021. "Self-humidifying effect of air self-circulation system for proton exchange membrane fuel cell engines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1143-1155.
    14. Pei, Pucheng & Wu, Ziyao & Li, Yuehua & Jia, Xiaoning & Chen, Dongfang & Huang, Shangwei, 2018. "Improved methods to measure hydrogen crossover current in proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 338-347.
    15. Chen, Zhijie & Zuo, Wei & Zhou, Kun & Li, Qingqing & Huang, Yuhan & E, Jiaqiang, 2023. "Multi-factor impact mechanism on the performance of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PB).
    16. Li, Wenkai & Zhang, Qinglei & Wang, Chao & Yan, Xiaohui & Shen, Shuiyun & Xia, Guofeng & Zhu, Fengjuan & Zhang, Junliang, 2017. "Experimental and numerical analysis of a three-dimensional flow field for PEMFCs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 278-288.
    17. Saeidfar, Asal & Yesilyurt, Serhat, 2023. "Numerical investigation of the effects of catalyst layer composition and channel to rib width ratios for low platinum loaded PEMFCs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    18. Rostami, Leila & Haghshenasfard, Masoud & Sadeghi, Morteza & Zhiani, Mohammad, 2022. "A 3D CFD model of novel flow channel designs based on the serpentine and the parallel design for performance enhancement of PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    19. Haibo Huo & Jiajie Chen & Ke Wang & Fang Wang & Guangzhe Jin & Fengxiang Chen, 2023. "State Estimation of Membrane Water Content of PEMFC Based on GA-BP Neural Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, June.
    20. Saka, Kenan & Orhan, Mehmet Fatih, 2022. "Analysis of stack operating conditions for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(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:16:y:2023:i:9:p:3770-:d:1135267. 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.