Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers (한국자동차공학회논문집)

The Korean Society of Automotive Engineers (한국자동차공학회)
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Investigation on the Liquid Water Droplet Instability in a Simulated Flow Channel of PEMFC

고분자전해질형 연료전지의 유로 채널 모사를 통한 단일 액적의 불안정성 관찰

  • Kim, Bo-Kyung (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University) ;
  • Kim, Han-Sang (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University) ;
  • Min, Kyung-Doug (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University)
  • 김보경 (서울대학교 기계항공공학부 대학원) ;
  • 김한상 (서울대학교 기계항공공학부) ;
  • 민경덕 (서울대학교 기계항공공학부)
  • Published : 2008.03.31
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Abstract

To investigate the characteristics of water droplet on the gas diffusion layer from both top-view and side-view of the flow channel, a rig test apparatus was designed and fabricated with prism attached plate. This experimental device is used to simulate the growth of single liquid water droplet and its transport process with various air flow velocity and channel height. The contact angle hysteresis and height of water droplet are measured and analyzed. It is found that droplet tends towards to be instable by decreasing channel height, increasing flow velocity or making GDL more hydrophobic. Also, the simplified force balance model matches with experimental data only in a restricted range of operating conditions and shows discrepancy as the air flow velocity and channel height increases.

Keywords

References

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