DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL STACK

摘要

The present invention relates to the design and development of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack. For the fabrication, acrylic sheets were used as the endplate. Ten individual cells were arranged in a horizontal fashion. The bipolar plates were made of graphite with serpentine pattern at anode and forced air breathe at the cathode. The fuel used is hydrogen at the anode and atmospheric air at the cathode. At the anode hydrogen splits into constituent protons and electrons, while the protons pass through the electrolyte membrane and the electrons necessarily take up the path of an external circuit thus electric power is generated. At the cathode, protons and electrons react with atmospheric oxygen electrochemically forming water. The electrolyte used was Nafion 117 and the catalyst for the MEA was prepared using Pt catalyst in Vulcan XC-72. The performance evaluation of the above mentioned MEA was carried out.