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A new modified-serpentine flow field for application in high temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell

Author

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  • Singdeo, Debanand
  • Dey, Tapobrata
  • Gaikwad, Shrihari
  • Andreasen, Søren Juhl
  • Ghosh, Prakash C.

Abstract

Flow field design for the distribution of reactants and products on the electrode surface plays an important role in the overall performance of the fuel cell. It acts as a crucial factor when the laboratory scale fuel cell is scaled up for commercial applications. In the present work, a novel flow field design is proposed and its usefulness for the fuel cell applications are evaluated in a high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell. The proposed geometry retains some of the features of serpentine flow field such as multiple bends, while modifications are made in its in-plane flow path to achieve comparatively uniform reactant and product distribution. A three-dimensional CFD model is developed to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed flow field. An HT-PEFC is fabricated and experimented with the proposed flow field for experimental validation. Furthermore, a low-cost current distribution mapping device is developed to validate the current density distribution on the electrode obtained from the CFD model. It exhibits a mismatch of 4% in the spatial distribution of current density between the modelling and experimental results. The proposed design is capable of achieving higher uniformity in current distribution across the active area (0.998 for modified serpentine and 0.96 serpentine) compared to serpentine flow field. This aids in boosting the current density of the cell by 27% at 0.57V operations.

Suggested Citation

  • Singdeo, Debanand & Dey, Tapobrata & Gaikwad, Shrihari & Andreasen, Søren Juhl & Ghosh, Prakash C., 2017. "A new modified-serpentine flow field for application in high temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 13-22.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:195:y:2017:i:c:p:13-22
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.022
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    Cited by:

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    2. Zhang, S. & Reimer, U. & Beale, S.B. & Lehnert, W. & Stolten, D., 2019. "Modeling polymer electrolyte fuel cells: A high precision analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 1094-1103.
    3. Suprava Chakraborty & Devaraj Elangovan & Karthikeyan Palaniswamy & Ashley Fly & Dineshkumar Ravi & Denis Ashok Sathia Seelan & Thundil Karuppa Raj Rajagopal, 2022. "A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Baik, Kyung Don & Seo, Il Sung, 2018. "Metallic bipolar plate with a multi-hole structure in the rib regions for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 333-339.
    5. Li, Yubai & Zhou, Zhifu & Liu, Xianglei & Wu, Wei-Tao, 2019. "Modeling of PEM fuel cell with thin MEA under low humidity operating condition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 1513-1527.
    6. Nishimura, Akira & Yamamoto, Kohei & Okado, Tatsuya & Kojima, Yuya & Hirota, Masafumi & Kolhe, Mohan Lal, 2020. "Impact analysis of MPL and PEM thickness on temperature distribution within PEFC operating at relatively higher temperature," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    7. Saeidfar, Asal & Yesilyurt, Serhat, 2023. "Numerical investigation of the effects of catalyst layer composition and channel to rib width ratios for low platinum loaded PEMFCs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).

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