Powerful, compact and low pressure drop, spiral wound fuel cell humidifier design

摘要

Disclosed is a WVT unit for a fuel cell system that uses a spiral wound configuration to reduce its size and increase its performance. The WVT unit includes a central tube having a plurality of openings through which the cathode exhaust gas passes. The WVT unit also includes a cylindrical section wrapped around the center tube and comprising a plurality of enclosures and a plurality of dry spacer layers separating the enclosures. Each enclosure comprises a pair of membranes separated by a wet spacer layer. The dry cathode inlet air flows down the dry spacer layers between the enclosures and the cathode effluent gas flows through the apertures in the center tube along the wet spacer layers into the plurality of enclosures to allow the membrane to absorb humidification which is transferred to the cathode inlet air.