Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B (대한기계학회논문집B)

The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (대한기계학회)
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Numerical Study of Land/Channel Flow-Field Optimization in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFCs) (II) - The Effects of Land/Channel Flow-Field on Temperature and Liquid Saturation Distributions -

고분자전해질형연료전지의 가스 채널 최적화를 위한 수치적 연구 (II) - 가스 채널 치수가 온도와 액체포화 분포에 미치는 영향성 -

  • 주현철 (인하대학교 기계공학부) ;
  • 남진무 (인하대학교 대학원 기계공학과)
  • Published : 2009.09.01
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Abstract

Using the multi-dimensional, multi-phase, nonisothermal Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC) model presented in Part I, the effects of land/channel flow-field on temperature and liquid saturation distributions inside PEFCs are investigated in Part II. The focus is placed on exploring the coupled water transport and heat transfer phenomena within the nonisothermal and two-phase zone existing in the diffusion media (DM) of PEFCs. Numerical simulations are performed varying the land and channel widths and simulation results reveal that the water profile and temperature rise inside PEFCs are considerably altered by changing the land and channel widths, which indicates that oxygen supply and heat removal from the channel to the land regions and liquid water removal from the land toward the gas channels are key factors in determining the water and temperature distributions inside PEFCs. In addition, the adverse liquid saturation gradient along the thru-plane direction is predicted near the land regions by the numerical model, which is due to the vapor-phase diffusion driven by the temperature gradient in the nonisothermal two-phase DM where water evaporates at the hotter catalyst layer, diffuses as a vapor form and then condenses on the cooler land region. Therefore, the vapor phase diffusion exacerbates DM flooding near the land region, while it alleviates DM flooding near the gas channel.

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References

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