Laser-Based Fuel Cell Manufacturing for Thermal Management

摘要

Previous work in this research demonstrated the feasibility of fabrication of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell bipolar plates by an indirect selective laser sintering (SLS) route. Properties of the SLS bipolar plate, such as flexural strength, corrosion resistance and gas impermeability, etc. are quite promising and satisfactory. However, initial results showed that there was still room for the improvement in electrical conductivity. The first objective here is to investigate the potential methods that are capable of improving the electrical conductivity of SLS bipolar plates. Strategies investigated in an effort to increase the electrical conductivity, were: (1) infiltration of brown parts with conductive polymer (2) addition of a liquid phenolic infiltration/re-curing step prior to final scaling and (3) reduction of glassy carbon resistivity by curing process parameter control. The other main objectives are (a) to simulate the performance of PEM fuel cells via computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and (b) develop a fuel cell testbed for experimentation. These complimentary objectives provide a basis to investigate, quickly and efficiently, novel designs for better PEMFC bipolar plates.