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A “4-cell” modular passive DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) stack for portable applications

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  • Wang, Luwen
  • He, Mingyan
  • Hu, Yue
  • Zhang, Yufeng
  • Liu, Xiaowei
  • Wang, Gaofeng

Abstract

A “4-cell” modular passive DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) stack, which can be freely combined and applied to various electronic devices, is designed, fabricated and tested. Two PCB (printed circuit board) based accessories are designed and fabricated for electrically connecting and mechanically assembling the “4-cell” modules. The maximum power density of the “4-cell” module is 27 mW cm−2 at 5 M methanol concentration. The steady-state performances of the modular stacks with different numbers of modules are tested. The extra power loss of the multiple module stacks due to inter-module electrical connections is predicted by mathematical fitting method. The fitting results indicate that the efficiencies of the multiple module stacks are all above 90% up to 10 modules. The dynamic performances of the modular stacks are also investigated for portable applications. The results show that the modular stacks exhibit good responsiveness and reproducibility at high loading current (>100 mA). Finally, the modular stacks are successfully applied to drive the experimental fan and charge the mobile phone.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Luwen & He, Mingyan & Hu, Yue & Zhang, Yufeng & Liu, Xiaowei & Wang, Gaofeng, 2015. "A “4-cell” modular passive DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) stack for portable applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 229-235.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:82:y:2015:i:c:p:229-235
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.01.033
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    5. Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Allagui, Anis & Sayed, Enas Taha & El Haj Assad, M. & Said, Zafar & Elsaid, Khaled, 2019. "Comparative analysis of liquid versus vapor-feed passive direct methanol fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 563-584.
    6. Alipour Najmi, Ali & Rowshanzamir, Soosan & Parnian, Mohammad Javad, 2016. "Investigation of NaOH concentration effect in injected fuel on the performance of passive direct methanol alkaline fuel cell with modified cation exchange membrane," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 589-599.
    7. Xuqu Hu & Xingyi Wang & Juanzhong Chen & Qinwen Yang & Dapeng Jin & Xiang Qiu, 2017. "Numerical Investigations of the Combined Effects of Flow Rate and Methanol Concentration on DMFC Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, July.
    8. Alipour Najmi, Ali & Rowshanzamir, Soosan & Parnian, Mohammad Javad, 2016. "Study of physicochemical characterization of potassium-doped Nafion117 membrane and performance evaluation of air-breathing fuel cell in different alkali-methanol solutions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1090-1098.
    9. Wang, Luwen & Yuan, Zhaoxia & Wen, Fei & Cheng, Yuhua & Zhang, Yufeng & Wang, Gaofeng, 2018. "A bipolar passive DMFC stack for portable applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 587-593.
    10. Fang, Shuo & Zhang, Yufeng & Ma, Zezhong & Sang, Shengtian & Liu, Xiaowei, 2016. "Systemic modeling and analysis of DMFC stack for behavior prediction in system-level application," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1015-1023.

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