IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v252y2019ic61.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental performance assessment of metal-foam flow fields for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Author

Listed:
  • Awin, Yussef
  • Dukhan, Nihad

Abstract

Interest in fuel-cell technology as a clean power source has been increasing. Fuel cells are prime candidates for replacing internal combustion engines, and for use as power plants. Flow fields in bipolar plates of proton exchange membrane fuel cells distribute reactants over the reactive sites of the membrane electrode assembly. Bipolar plates are typically graphite with parallel or serpentine channels as flow fields. The efficiency of a fuel cell or a stack depends on the performance of the bipolar plates, which is contingent on the flow field design. The drawbacks of graphite include heavy weight, fabrication inaccuracy, high cost, fixed porosity, and brittleness. In this paper, open-cell metal foam is experimentally investigated as a flow field for a new bipolar plate design. The performance of the conventional bipolar plate with a serpentine flow field is directly compared to that of the metal-foam designs (with various porosities) at the same operational conditions. Results show that, in the case of the new design, the cell current, voltage and power density are improved, and temperature and pressure distributions on the membrane are more even. Metal-foam flow fields are seen to maintain safe operating temperature for the membrane (55–87 °C). Just as important, the conversion efficiency is 9.9% higher for the metal-foam design, and its weight is 27.8% lower compared to the graphite bipolar plate. There is a savings of 4% in hydrogen use when using the metal-foam flow fields. As such the new design is a viable replacement for the conventional graphite bipolar plate.

Suggested Citation

  • Awin, Yussef & Dukhan, Nihad, 2019. "Experimental performance assessment of metal-foam flow fields for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:252:y:2019:i:c:61
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113458
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261919311328
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113458?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carton, J.G. & Olabi, A.G., 2010. "Design of experiment study of the parameters that affect performance of three flow plate configurations of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 2796-2806.
    2. Unknown, 2004. "End Materials," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 19(4), pages 1-1.
    3. Carton, J.G. & Olabi, A.G., 2017. "Three-dimensional proton exchange membrane fuel cell model: Comparison of double channel and open pore cellular foam flow plates," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 185-195.
    4. Yuan, Wei & Tang, Yong & Yang, Xiaojun & Wan, Zhenping, 2012. "Porous metal materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells – A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 309-329.
    5. Wang, Yun & Chen, Ken S. & Mishler, Jeffrey & Cho, Sung Chan & Adroher, Xavier Cordobes, 2011. "A review of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Technology, applications, and needs on fundamental research," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 981-1007, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Hao & Guo, Hang & Ye, Fang & MA, Chong Fang, 2022. "Cell performance and flow losses of proton exchange membrane fuel cells with orientated-type flow channels," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 1338-1352.
    2. Zhu, Xinning & Liu, Rongkang & Su, Liang & Wang, Xi & Chu, Xuyang & Ma, Yao & Wu, Linjing & Song, Guangji & Zhou, Wei, 2023. "Synergistic mass transfer and performance stability of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with traveling wave flow channels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    3. Kermani, M.J. & Moein-Jahromi, M. & Hasheminasab, M.R. & Ebrahimi, F. & Wei, L. & Guo, J. & Jiang, F.M., 2022. "Application of a foam-based functionally graded porous material flow-distributor to PEM fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    4. Ali A. Hmad & Nihad Dukhan, 2021. "Cooling Design for PEM Fuel-Cell Stacks Employing Air and Metal Foam: Simulation and Experiment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, May.
    5. Son, Jonghyun & Um, Sukkee & Kim, Young-Beom, 2022. "Relationship between number of turns of serpentine structure with metal foam flow field and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell performance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 372-383.
    6. Qiu, Diankai & Peng, Linfa & Yi, Peiyun & Lehnert, Werner & Lai, Xinmin, 2021. "Review on proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack assembly: Quality evaluation, assembly method, contact behavior and process design," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    7. Lian, Yunsong & Zhu, Zhengchao & You, Changtang & Lin, Liangliang & Lin, Fengtian & Lin, Le & Huang, Yating & Zhou, Wei, 2023. "Structural optimization of fiber porous self-humidifying flow field plates applied to proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    8. Li, Qifeng & Sun, Kai & Suo, Mengshan & Zeng, Zhen & Guan, Chengshuo & Liu, Huaiyu & Che, Zhizhao & Wang, Tianyou, 2024. "Water transport in PEMFC with metal foam flow fields: Visualization based on AI image recognition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 365(C).
    9. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Wang, Zhuo & Yang, Xi & Fang, Haoyan & Li, Qiming & Cao, Jing, 2024. "Investigation on performance of full-scale proton exchange membrane fuel cell: Porous foam flow field with integrated bipolar plate/gas diffusion layer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    10. Zhang, Lu & Liu, Jie & Du, Shaojie & Zhao, Chen, 2024. "Multiphase flow dynamics in metal foam proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    11. Somayeh Toghyani & Seyed Ali Atyabi & Xin Gao, 2021. "Enhancing the Specific Power of a PEM Fuel Cell Powered UAV with a Novel Bean-Shaped Flow Field," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-23, April.
    12. Chen, Xi & Yang, Chen & Sun, Yun & Liu, Qinxiao & Wan, Zhongmin & Kong, Xiangzhong & Tu, Zhengkai & Wang, Xiaodong, 2022. "Water management and structure optimization study of nickel metal foam as flow distributors in proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    13. Abdul Ghani Olabi & Tabbi Wilberforce & Abdulrahman Alanazi & Parag Vichare & Enas Taha Sayed & Hussein M. Maghrabie & Khaled Elsaid & Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem, 2022. "Novel Trends in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-35, July.
    14. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Yang, Xi & Wang, Zhuo & Zhang, Shuanyang & Cao, Jing & Fang, Haoyan & Li, Qiming, 2024. "Full-scale three-dimensional simulation of air cooling metal bipolar plate proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack considering a non-isothermal multiphase model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    15. Xiong, Kangning & Wu, Wei & Wang, Shuangfeng & Zhang, Lin, 2021. "Modeling, design, materials and fabrication of bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cell: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    16. Chen, Qin & Zhang, Guobin & Zhang, Xuzhong & Sun, Cheng & Jiao, Kui & Wang, Yun, 2021. "Thermal management of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: A review of cooling methods, material properties, and durability," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    17. Wang, Yulin & Wang, Xiaoai & Fan, Yuanzhi & He, Wei & Guan, Jinglei & Wang, Xiaodong, 2022. "Numerical Investigation of Tapered Flow Field Configurations for Enhanced Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sankar, K. & Thakre, Niraj & Singh, Sumit Mohan & Jana, Amiya K., 2017. "Sliding mode observer based nonlinear control of a PEMFC integrated with a methanol reformer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1126-1143.
    2. Myo-Eun Kim & Young-Jun Sohn, 2020. "Study on Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells with Nonhumidification Using Metal Foam in Dead-Ended Operation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-12, March.
    3. Zhang, Xiaoqing & Yang, Jiapei & Ma, Xiao & Zhuge, Weilin & Shuai, Shijin, 2022. "Modelling and analysis on effects of penetration of microporous layer into gas diffusion layer in PEM fuel cells: Focusing on mass transport," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).
    4. Abdollahzadeh, M. & Ribeirinha, P. & Boaventura, M. & Mendes, A., 2018. "Three-dimensional modeling of PEMFC with contaminated anode fuel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 939-959.
    5. Yuan, Wei & Tang, Yong & Yang, Xiaojun & Wan, Zhenping, 2012. "Porous metal materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells – A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 309-329.
    6. Wang, Junye, 2015. "Theory and practice of flow field designs for fuel cell scaling-up: A critical review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 640-663.
    7. Bao, Zhiming & Niu, Zhiqiang & Jiao, Kui, 2020. "Gas distribution and droplet removal of metal foam flow field for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    8. Jiao, Kui & Bachman, John & Zhou, Yibo & Park, Jae Wan, 2014. "Effect of induced cross flow on flow pattern and performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 75-82.
    9. Ercelik, Mustafa & Ismail, Mohammed S. & Ingham, Derek B. & Hughes, Kevin J. & Ma, Lin & Pourkashanian, Mohamed, 2023. "Efficient X-ray CT-based numerical computations of structural and mass transport properties of nickel foam-based GDLs for PEFCs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    10. Huo, Sen & Cooper, Nathanial James & Smith, Travis Lee & Park, Jae Wan & Jiao, Kui, 2017. "Experimental investigation on PEM fuel cell cold start behavior containing porous metal foam as cathode flow distributor," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 101-114.
    11. Díaz, Manuel Antonio & Iranzo, Alfredo & Rosa, Felipe & Isorna, Fernando & López, Eduardo & Bolivar, Juan Pedro, 2015. "Effect of carbon dioxide on the contamination of low temperature and high temperature PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cells. Influence of temperature, relative humidity and analysis of regener," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 299-309.
    12. Wu, Horng-Wen, 2016. "A review of recent development: Transport and performance modeling of PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 81-106.
    13. Vasile, Nicolò S. & Doherty, Ronan & Monteverde Videla, Alessandro H.A. & Specchia, Stefania, 2016. "3D multi-physics modeling of a gas diffusion electrode for oxygen reduction reaction for electrochemical energy conversion in PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 435-450.
    14. Calabriso, Andrea & Borello, Domenico & Romano, Giovanni Paolo & Cedola, Luca & Del Zotto, Luca & Santori, Simone Giovanni, 2017. "Bubbly flow mapping in the anode channel of a direct methanol fuel cell via PIV investigation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1245-1255.
    15. Afshari, E. & Mosharaf-Dehkordi, M. & Rajabian, H., 2017. "An investigation of the PEM fuel cells performance with partially restricted cathode flow channels and metal foam as a flow distributor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 705-715.
    16. Chowdhury, Mohammad Ziauddin & Timurkutluk, Bora, 2018. "Transport phenomena of convergent and divergent serpentine flow fields for PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 104-117.
    17. Cheng Wang & Shubo Wang & Linfa Peng & Junliang Zhang & Zhigang Shao & Jun Huang & Chunwen Sun & Minggao Ouyang & Xiangming He, 2016. "Recent Progress on the Key Materials and Components for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells in Vehicle Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-39, July.
    18. Wang, Junye, 2015. "Barriers of scaling-up fuel cells: Cost, durability and reliability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 509-521.
    19. Lin, Chien-Hung, 2013. "Surface roughness effect on the metallic bipolar plates of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 898-904.
    20. Alipour Moghaddam, Jafar & Parnian, Mohammad Javad & Rowshanzamir, Soosan, 2018. "Preparation, characterization, and electrochemical properties investigation of recycled proton exchange membrane for fuel cell applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 699-709.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:252:y:2019:i:c:61. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.