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Thermal management improvement of air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell by using metal foam flow field

Author

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  • Wan, Zhongmin
  • Yan, Hanzhang
  • Sun, Yun
  • Yang, Chen
  • Chen, Xi
  • Kong, Xiangzhong
  • Chen, Yiyu
  • Tu, Zhengkai
  • Wang, Xiaodong

Abstract

The key factor that limits the output performance and commercial applications of air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is how to maintain the balance between heat dissipation and water retention. In order to tackle this issue, new cathode flow field with metal foam is experimentally investigated due to superior heat dissipation and water retention capability of metal foam. Experimental results demonstrated that when the height of metal foam is 1 mm and the width of metal foam increases from 1 mm (case 2) to 5 mm (case 6), the temperature of air-cooled PEMFC decreases by 8.4 ℃ under current of 15 A due to the synergic enhancement of heat dissipation and electrochemical performance, indicating the thermal management improvement of air-cooled PEMFC. As the metal foam height increases, however, the thermal management performance of air-cooled PEMFC first increases and then decreases. Therefore, case 6 is considered to be the optimal sample under the constraints of the thermal management performance and compactness of air-cooled PEMFC. By comparing with conventional parallel flow fields with the widths of 1 mm, 3 mm and 5 mm (case 1, case 3 and case 5), the net output performance of case 6 increases by 3.4 %, 8.8 % and 55.1 % and the compression work of case 6 decreases by 69.7 %, 38.3 % and 64.4 % under the same temperature (50 ℃) and current (15 A), which means higher practical application potential and lower parasitic power requirement.

Suggested Citation

  • Wan, Zhongmin & Yan, Hanzhang & Sun, Yun & Yang, Chen & Chen, Xi & Kong, Xiangzhong & Chen, Yiyu & Tu, Zhengkai & Wang, Xiaodong, 2023. "Thermal management improvement of air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell by using metal foam flow field," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:333:y:2023:i:c:s0306261923000065
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120642
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Yulin Wang & Xiangling Liao & Guokun Liu & Haokai Xu & Chao Guan & Huixuan Wang & Hua Li & Wei He & Yanzhou Qin, 2023. "Review of Flow Field Designs for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-54, May.
    3. Wu, Y. & Xu, L. & Zhou, S. & Yang, J. & Kockelmann, W. & Han, Y. & Li, Q. & Chen, W. & Coppens, M.-O. & Shearing, P.R. & Brett, D.J.L. & Jervis, R., 2024. "Water management and mass transport of a fractal metal foam flow-field based polymer electrolyte fuel cell using operando neutron imaging," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    4. Ma, Haoran & Liu, Junheng & Liang, Wenwen & Li, Jiyu & Zhao, Wenyao & Sun, Ping & Ji, Qian, 2024. "Effects of PEMFC cooling channel insulation coating on heat transfer and electrical discharge characteristics of nanofluid coolants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    5. 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).
    6. Yang, Yuchen & Wu, Zhen & Wang, Bofei & Yao, Jing & Yang, Fusheng & Zhang, Zaoxiao & Ren, Jianwei, 2024. "Efficient water recovery and power generation system based on air-cooled fuel cell with semi-closed cathode circulation mode," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    7. Sun, Feng & Su, Dandan & Li, Ping & Lin, Fanxin & Miu, Guodong & Wan, Qi & Yin, Yujie, 2024. "Effects of three-dimensional type flow fields on mass transfer and performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    8. Zhu, Kai-Qi & Ding, Quan & Zhang, Ben-Xi & Xu, Jiang-Hai & Li, Dan-Dan & Yang, Yan-Ru & Lee, Duu-Jong & Wan, Zhong-Min & Wang, Xiao-Dong, 2024. "Performance enhancement of air-cooled PEMFC stack by employing tapered oblique fin channels: Experimental study of a full stack and numerical analysis of a typical single cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    9. Wang, Yulin & Wang, Han & Wang, Guozhuo & Li, Hua & Zhao, Yulong & He, Wei, 2023. "Enhancement of water droplet drainage performance in a cathode flow channel with baffles for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).

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