Effects of Hardware Design and Operation Conditions on PEM Fuel Cell Water Flooding
- 8 October 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in International Journal of Green Energy
- Vol. 7 (5), 461-474
- https://doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2010.515185
Abstract
In this paper, membrane electrode assemblies were constructed using catalyst-coated membranes to investigate proton-exchange membrane fuel cell water flooding. Two major fuel cell hardware variations, namely flowfield design and Teflon loading of the gas diffusion layer (GDL), were tested to explore their effects on water flooding. A flowfield with triple serpentine flow channels showed heavier water flooding than that with single serpentine flow channels. Increasing the Teflon loading in the GDL reduced water flooding effectively. Several fuel cell operating conditions, including air stoichiometry, current density, relative humidity (RH), backpressure, and temperature, were also tested to identify their effects on water flooding. It was observed that the water flooding severity increased with decreasing air stoichiometry, as well as with increasing temperature, RH, backpressure, and current density. Among these operation conditions, air stoichiometry (or air flow rate) and RH played more important roles in reducing water flooding.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Fundamental understanding of liquid water effects on the performance of a PEMFC with serpentine-parallel channelsElectrochimica Acta, 2009
- Monitoring an Electrode Flooding Through the Back Pressure in a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel CellInternational Journal of Green Energy, 2008
- The Performance Analysis of a Multi-Duct Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell CathodeInternational Journal of Green Energy, 2008
- Effects of flow field and diffusion layer properties on water accumulation in a PEM fuel cellInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2007
- Effect of humidity of reactants on the cell performance of PEM fuel cells with parallel and interdigitated flow field designsJournal of Power Sources, 2007
- A new flow field design for polymer electrolyte-based fuel cellsElectrochemistry Communications, 2006
- A flow channel design procedure for PEM fuel cells with effective water removalJournal of Power Sources, 2006
- The study of the effect of gas stoichiometric flow rate on the channel flooding and performance in a transparent fuel cellInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2006
- Detection of Membrane Drying, Fuel Cell Flooding, and Anode Catalyst Poisoning on PEMFC Stacks by Electrochemical Impedance SpectroscopyJournal of the Electrochemical Society, 2006
- Flooding of Gas Diffusion Backing in PEFCsJournal of the Electrochemical Society, 2004