IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v308y2022ics0306261921016184.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigation of the thermal responses under gas channel and land inside proton exchange membrane fuel cell with assembly pressure

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Qianqian
  • Tang, Fumin
  • Li, Bing
  • Dai, Haifeng
  • Zheng, Jim P.
  • Zhang, Cunman
  • Ming, Pingwen

Abstract

The improper thermal response is one of the main causes of proton exchange membrane fuel cell degradation. In this study, a two-dimensional, non-isothermal, two-phase transient fuel cell model has been established combined with newly measured experimental data. This model fully incorporates the land and gas channel (GC) of the bipolar plate, comprehensively accounting for the electrical contact resistance (ECR) and the thermal contact resistance (TCR) at the carbon paper/land interface, as well as the changes of carbon paper structure and electrical/thermal resistance induced by assembly pressure. By simulation, the impacts of interface resistance, working conditions, and assembly pressure on the thermal responses under land and GC are systematically investigated. The existence of TCR is found to increase the two regions' temperature significantly, while ECR only slightly raises it by generating a surface heat source. Furthermore, uneven distribution, ununiform fluctuation, and rapid overshoot/undershoot of temperature are observed in the two areas during overload and change load operations. It is mainly caused by the different distributions and responses of reaction and phase change at various locations. In the end, the average temperature is found to fall significantly and reach a new steady fastly with the increase of assembly pressure due to the reduction of bulk and interface thermal resistances of carbon paper. However, performance degradation and hot spot temperature rise are further observed if the pressure is too high. To balance performance and heat transfer, we should choose an optimal assembly pressure.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Qianqian & Tang, Fumin & Li, Bing & Dai, Haifeng & Zheng, Jim P. & Zhang, Cunman & Ming, Pingwen, 2022. "Investigation of the thermal responses under gas channel and land inside proton exchange membrane fuel cell with assembly pressure," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:308:y:2022:i:c:s0306261921016184
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261921016184
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118377?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. Qiu, Diankai & Janßen, Holger & Peng, Linfa & Irmscher, Philipp & Lai, Xinmin & Lehnert, Werner, 2018. "Electrical resistance and microstructure of typical gas diffusion layers for proton exchange membrane fuel cell under compression," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 127-137.
    2. 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.
    3. Cho, Junhyun & Park, Jaeman & Oh, Hwanyeong & Min, Kyoungdoug & Lee, Eunsook & Jyoung, Jy-Young, 2013. "Analysis of the transient response and durability characteristics of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with different micro-porous layer penetration thicknesses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 300-309.
    4. Atyabi, Seyed Ali & Afshari, Ebrahim & Wongwises, Somchai & Yan, Wen-Mon & Hadjadj, Abdellah & Shadloo, Mostafa Safdari, 2019. "Effects of assembly pressure on PEM fuel cell performance by taking into accounts electrical and thermal contact resistances," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 490-501.
    5. Zhang, Guobin & Yuan, Hao & Wang, Yun & Jiao, Kui, 2019. "Three-dimensional simulation of a new cooling strategy for proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack using a non-isothermal multiphase model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    6. Ismail, M.S. & Hughes, K.J. & Ingham, D.B. & Ma, L. & Pourkashanian, M., 2012. "Effects of anisotropic permeability and electrical conductivity of gas diffusion layers on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 50-63.
    7. Xing, Lei & Liu, Xiaoteng & Alaje, Taiwo & Kumar, Ravi & Mamlouk, Mohamed & Scott, Keith, 2014. "A two-phase flow and non-isothermal agglomerate model for a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 618-634.
    8. Perng, Shiang-Wuu & Wu, Horng-Wen, 2015. "A three-dimensional numerical investigation of trapezoid baffles effect on non-isothermal reactant transport and cell net power in a PEMFC," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 81-95.
    9. 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.
    10. Cao, Tao-Feng & Lin, Hong & Chen, Li & He, Ya-Ling & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2013. "Numerical investigation of the coupled water and thermal management in PEM fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1115-1125.
    11. Jung, Chi-Young & Shim, Hyo-Sub & Koo, Sang-Man & Lee, Sang-Hwan & Yi, Sung-Chul, 2012. "Investigations of the temperature distribution in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 733-741.
    12. Wu, Hao & Berg, Peter & Li, Xianguo, 2010. "Steady and unsteady 3D non-isothermal modeling of PEM fuel cells with the effect of non-equilibrium phase transfer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(9), pages 2778-2784, September.
    13. Taymaz, Imdat & Benli, Merthan, 2010. "Numerical study of assembly pressure effect on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2134-2140.
    14. Wang, H.Y. & Yang, W.J. & Kim, Y.B., 2014. "Analyzing in-plane temperature distribution via a micro-temperature sensor in a unit polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 148-155.
    15. Kim, Bosung & Cha, Dowon & Kim, Yongchan, 2015. "The effects of air stoichiometry and air excess ratio on the transient response of a PEMFC under load change conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 143-149.
    16. Perng, Shiang-Wuu & Wu, Horng-Wen, 2010. "Effect of the prominent catalyst layer surface on reactant gas transport and cell performance at the cathodic side of a PEMFC," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 1386-1399, April.
    17. Andersson, M. & Beale, S.B. & Espinoza, M. & Wu, Z. & Lehnert, W., 2016. "A review of cell-scale multiphase flow modeling, including water management, in polymer electrolyte fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 757-778.
    18. Tolj, Ivan & Penga, Željko & Vukičević, Damir & Barbir, Frano, 2020. "Thermal management of edge-cooled 1 kW portable proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    19. Tang, Yong & Yuan, Wei & Pan, Minqiang & Li, Zongtao & Chen, Guoqing & Li, Yong, 2010. "Experimental investigation of dynamic performance and transient responses of a kW-class PEM fuel cell stack under various load changes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 1410-1417, 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. Su, Chao & Chen, Zhidong & Wu, Zexuan & Zhang, Jing & Li, Kaiyang & Hao, Junhong & Kong, Yanqiang & Zhang, Naiqiang, 2024. "Experimental and numerical study of thermal coupling on catalyst-coated membrane for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    2. Wei, Pengnan & Chang, Guofeng & Fan, Ruijia & Xu, Yiming & Chen, Siqi, 2023. "Investigation of output performance and temperature distribution uniformity of PEMFC based on Pt loading gradient design," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    3. Fan, Ruijia & Chang, Guofeng & Xu, Yiming & Zhang, Yuanzhi, 2024. "Investigating the transient electrical behaviors in PEM fuel cells under various platinum distributions within cathode catalyst layers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 359(C).
    4. Pei, Houchang & Xiao, Chenguang & Tu, Zhengkai, 2022. "Experimental study on liquid water formation characteristics in a novel transparent proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).

    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. 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.
    2. Baricci, Andrea & Mereu, Riccardo & Messaggi, Mirko & Zago, Matteo & Inzoli, Fabio & Casalegno, Andrea, 2017. "Application of computational fluid dynamics to the analysis of geometrical features in PEM fuel cells flow fields with the aid of impedance spectroscopy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 670-682.
    3. Yan, Xiaohui & Lin, Chen & Zheng, Zhifeng & Chen, Junren & Wei, Guanghua & Zhang, Junliang, 2020. "Effect of clamping pressure on liquid-cooled PEMFC stack performance considering inhomogeneous gas diffusion layer compression," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    4. 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.
    5. 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).
    6. Wu, Horng-Wen & Shih, Gin-Jang & Chen, Yi-Bin, 2018. "Effect of operational parameters on transport and performance of a PEM fuel cell with the best protrusive gas diffusion layer arrangement," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 47-58.
    7. Ahmed Mohmed Dafalla & Lin Wei & Bereket Tsegai Habte & Jian Guo & Fangming Jiang, 2022. "Membrane Electrode Assembly Degradation Modeling of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-26, December.
    8. Yao, Jing & Wu, Zhen & Wang, Huan & Yang, Fusheng & Xuan, Jin & Xing, Lei & Ren, Jianwei & Zhang, Zaoxiao, 2022. "Design and multi-objective optimization of low-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells with efficient water recovery and high electrochemical performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    9. Tzelepis, Stefanos & Kavadias, Kosmas A. & Marnellos, George E. & Xydis, George, 2021. "A review study on proton exchange membrane fuel cell electrochemical performance focusing on anode and cathode catalyst layer modelling at macroscopic level," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    10. Mo, Jingke & Kang, Zhenye & Yang, Gaoqiang & Retterer, Scott T. & Cullen, David A. & Toops, Todd J. & Green, Johney B. & Zhang, Feng-Yuan, 2016. "Thin liquid/gas diffusion layers for high-efficiency hydrogen production from water splitting," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 817-822.
    11. Qiao, Jia Nan & Guo, Hang & Ye, Fang & Chen, Hao, 2024. "A nonlinear contraction channel design inspired by typical mathematical curves: Boosting net power and water discharge of PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    12. Abdollahipour, Armin & Sayyaadi, Hoseyn, 2022. "A novel electrochemical refrigeration system based on the combined proton exchange membrane fuel cell-electrolyzer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    13. Xing, Lei & Shi, Weidong & Su, Huaneng & Xu, Qian & Das, Prodip K. & Mao, Baodong & Scott, Keith, 2019. "Membrane electrode assemblies for PEM fuel cells: A review of functional graded design and optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 445-464.
    14. Perng, Shiang-Wuu & Horng, Rong-Fang & Wu, Horng-Wen, 2017. "Effect of a diffuser on performance enhancement of a cylindrical methanol steam reformer by computational fluid dynamic analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 312-328.
    15. 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).
    16. Andújar, J.M. & Segura, F. & Isorna, F. & Calderón, A.J., 2018. "Comprehensive diagnosis methodology for faults detection and identification, and performance improvement of Air-Cooled Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 193-207.
    17. Ye, Lingfeng & Qiu, Diankai & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2022. "Microstructures and electrical conductivity properties of compressed gas diffusion layers using X-ray tomography," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    18. Xing, Lei & Das, Prodip K. & Song, Xueguan & Mamlouk, Mohamed & Scott, Keith, 2015. "Numerical analysis of the optimum membrane/ionomer water content of PEMFCs: The interaction of Nafion® ionomer content and cathode relative humidity," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 242-257.
    19. Isaac C. Okereke & Mohammed S. Ismail & Derek B. Ingham & Kevin Hughes & Lin Ma & Mohamed Pourkashanian, 2023. "Single- and Double-Sided Coated Gas Diffusion Layers Used in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells: A Numerical Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, May.
    20. Atyabi, Seyed Ali & Afshari, Ebrahim & Zohravi, Elnaz & Udemu, Chinonyelum M., 2021. "Three-dimensional simulation of different flow fields of proton exchange membrane fuel cell using a multi-phase coupled model with cooling channel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).

    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:308:y:2022:i:c:s0306261921016184. 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.