Experimental Study on the Droplet Transport and Dynamic Behavior in Flow Channel with Microprotrusions of PEMFC
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 149, Issue 5
Abstract
Water management plays a crucial role in the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). In this paper, to speed up the removal of water in the flow channel, the microprotrusions are fabricated on the flow channel surface by using laser remelting, and the surface is then sprayed with nanohydrophobic materials. The contact angle of the surface after spraying the hydrophobic material and laser processing increases from 115° to 132° when only the hydrophobic material is sprayed. Through visualization experiments, the movements of droplets in the smooth and microstructured flow channel are compared at different gas inlet pressures and different water inlet mass flows. The results show that the contact form of droplets with smooth surface is a solid-liquid contact, whereas there is also a liquid-gas contact with a microstructured surface. The main movement form of droplets in the smooth flow channel is sliding, whereas in the microstructured flow channel it is rolling. Under different experimental conditions, the movement speed of droplets in the microstructured flow channel is faster than that of the smooth flow channel, which indicates that the flow channel with microprotrusions has a better drag reduction performance. As the gas inlet pressure increases, the initial diameter of the droplet gradually decreased, and the velocity of the droplet increases. The water inlet mass flow has little effect on the oscillation amplitude of the droplets in the smooth flow channel, whereas in the microstructured flow channel, the droplet oscillation amplitude increases with the increase of the water inlet velocity. This work provides a new choice for the design of a flow channel.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request (Figs. 1–16).
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. KYCX21_3353), the Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutral Technology Innovation Fund Project of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BE2022001-4), and the Yangzhou Industrial Foresight and Common Key Technologies Project (Grant No. YZ20222028).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 5 • October 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 23, 2023
Accepted: May 15, 2023
Published online: Jul 5, 2023
Published in print: Oct 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Dec 5, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Channel flow
- Continuum mechanics
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering mechanics
- Flow (fluid dynamics)
- Flow visualization
- Fluid dynamics
- Fluid mechanics
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic structures
- Hydrologic engineering
- Inlets (waterway)
- Materials characterization
- Materials engineering
- Materials processing
- Membranes
- Microstructure
- Pressure (type)
- Solid mechanics
- Structural engineering
- Structural members
- Structural systems
- Water and water resources
- Water flow
- Water pressure
- Waterways
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Cited by
- Yaochen Wang, Hongjuan Ren, Cong Li, Enhancing Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel-Cell Heat Transfer Performance with Embedded Cooling Channel Design: A Systematic Numerical Study, Journal of Energy Engineering, 10.1061/JLEED9.EYENG-5099, 150, 1, (2024).