Effects of thermal conditions including coolant passage on the performance of PEMFC

摘要

There are several types of fuel cells available to transform chemical energy directly to electrical energy. One of these, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell, operates at a lower temperature than other types of fuel cells and it may be a useful power source for future automobiles and stationary power plant. For the development of high performance fuel cell, water and heat management of the PEMFC is important. To investigate the influence of coolant passage, small-size and commercial-size PEMFC models including several coolant passages are studied numerically. The model results notify that optimal shape of coolant passage strongly depends on shape of gas channel of its geometrical type. Especially, coolant passage of commercial-size PEMFC must be designed with more care. The effects of operating conditions like humidity, including temperature effect are also studied. The extremely high inlet humidity may cause cathode flooding and increases the load of auxiliary devices, such as humidifier systems. On the contrary, the excessively low humidity may lead to membrane dehydrating. From a thermal point of view, the extremely high cell temperature may cause critical performance problem. So optimized coolant passage design is necessary.