Electrical and Thermal Cell-to-Cell Coupling in PEFC Stacks - A CFD Analysis

摘要

Bipolar stacking of fuel cells connects them in series electrically and in parallel for the reactant and coolant flows.Therefore all cells in a stack have to carry the same total current while receiving reactant and coolant flows that are not perfectly equal due to varying percolation resistances.The local current production in a single cell will vary significantly with reactant flow rates and temperature distribution governed by the coolant flow and where applicable effects of the endplate.Due to the finite conductivity of the bipolar plates such local perturbations affect adjacent cells by impressing on them a similar current density distribution.The mechanism of electrical coupling is depicted in Fig.1.