Measurement of Flooding in Gas Diffusion Layers of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells with Conventional Flow Field
Open Access
- 1 January 2006
- journal article
- Published by The Electrochemical Society in Journal of the Electrochemical Society
- Vol. 153 (9), A1748-A1754
- https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2218812
Abstract
The objective of this work is to clarify the location and magnitude of flooding in polymer electrolyte fuel cells with a conventional flow field experimentally and by a numerical calculation. In the experiment, a newly developed cell with a conventional, interdigitated-switchable gas-flow field was used and the pressure drop between the inlet and outlet of the cathode was measured with the interdigitated flow field after the cell was operated with the conventional flow field. Significant pressure drop was observed after high current densities were flown; the pressure drop indicates the flooding level in a gas diffusion layer (GDL) during the conventional flow field operation. The cell performance and the flooding behavior depended significantly on wetting properties of catalyst layers and GDLs. In the simulation, liquid water distribution in the cathode GDL was predicted using a two-phase model, and validated by comparing the pressure drop measured and calculated using a gas-flow model. The simulation results agreed well with experimental data at high humidity condition and showed that a large amount of liquid water exists in the cathode GDL at high current densities.Keywords
This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- Relationship between pressure drop and cell resistance as a diagnostic tool for PEM fuel cellsJournal of Power Sources, 2004
- In situ neutron imaging technique for evaluation of water management systems in operating PEM fuel cellsJournal of Power Sources, 2004
- Visualization of Liquid Water Transport in a PEFCElectrochemical and Solid-State Letters, 2004
- Behavior of Second-Phase Particles in Al5052 Alloy during Anodizing in a Sulfuric Acid SolutionJournal of the Electrochemical Society, 2004
- Diagnostic tool to detect electrode flooding in proton‐exchange‐membrane fuel cellsAIChE Journal, 2003
- Visualization of water buildup in the cathode of a transparent PEM fuel cellJournal of Power Sources, 2003
- A two-phase flow and transport model for the cathode of PEM fuel cellsInternational Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2001
- Two-phase flow and transport in the air cathode of proton exchange membrane fuel cellsJournal of Power Sources, 2001
- A Two-Dimensional, Two-Phase, Multicomponent, Transient Model for the Cathode of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Using Conventional Gas DistributorsJournal of the Electrochemical Society, 2001
- Two‐phase flow model of the cathode of PEM fuel cells using interdigitated flow fieldsAIChE Journal, 2000