Analysis of Liquid Water Discharge Performance in a Channel of PEM Fuel Cells Using Lattice Boltzmann Method

摘要

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been given much attention in the last decade. Understanding the liquid water behavior in PEMFC is of considerable practical significance. We applied numerical lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to simulate the liquid water droplet dynamics, its subsequent movement on the GDL surface under the action of gas. The effect of the inlet air flow velocity, droplet characteristics (size, initial position), gas channel height on the pump work, needed to remove the liquid water droplet, are investigated. The optimum design will be investigated for best performance.