Experimental Investigations on Cell Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells with Orientated-Type Flow Channels
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 6
Abstract
A better-designed flow channel can enhance the mass transfer and improve the performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell. An orientated-type flow channel can achieve guidance on reactant and product transfers, resulting in an increase in the mass transfer flux and the rapid removal of the product (especially liquid water). In this study, flow fields with different orientated-type gas flow channels having different baffles are fabricated, and their effects on the current density outputs of proton exchange membrane fuel cells under various heating temperature and reactant flow rate conditions are investigated using a self-constructed testing system. The experimental results indicate that cell performance can be increased when using orientated-type flow channels with baffles having longer leeward sides, and cell performance is increased more under a suitable heating temperature. Moreover, the increase in the current densities of proton exchange membrane fuel cells with smaller baffles is limited when increasing the reactant flow rates. This limitation can be avoided when using the orientated-type flow channels with baffles having longer leeward sides.
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Data Availability Statement
All of the data, models, or code generated or used during this study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51976004).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 6 • December 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 21, 2020
Accepted: Jul 7, 2020
Published online: Sep 7, 2020
Published in print: Dec 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Feb 7, 2021
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