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Water management of the proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Optimizing the effect of microstructural properties on the gas diffusion layer liquid removal

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  • Pourrahmani, Hossein
  • Van herle, Jan

Abstract

The formation of water columns inside the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), which is harmful phenomenon, can be controlled by the GDL's microstructure and material. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), a three-dimensional model is developed to monitor the impacts of the GDL's porosity and permeability on the maximum GDL liquid removal. In this regard, twenty-four different cases are simulated at the GDL contact angle of 110°. Results indicate that higher permeabilities and porosities improve the GDL liquid removal and the performance of the system. Obtaining the simulation data, an artificial neural network (ANN) model is trained at the current density of 0.41 A/ cm2 and the voltage of 0.6 V to predict the maximum GDL liquid removal in 300000 points and to perform the optimization. The ANN model is trained with four neurons with the respective mean squared error values 6.32422e-6, 1.00637e-5, and 4.12086e-6 for the training, validation, and testing, which approves the accuracy of the model. Using a fitted curve and the ANN model, the optimum values of the porosity and the permeability are computed to be 0.9 and 1.481e-11 (m2), respectively, to reach the maximum GDL liquid removal of 0.373 (kg/m3s).

Suggested Citation

  • Pourrahmani, Hossein & Van herle, Jan, 2022. "Water management of the proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Optimizing the effect of microstructural properties on the gas diffusion layer liquid removal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:256:y:2022:i:c:s0360544222016152
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.124712
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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Huicui & Zhang, Ruirui & Xia, Zhifeng & Weng, Qianyao & Zhang, Tong & Pei, Pucheng, 2023. "Experimental investigation on PEM fuel cell flooding mitigation under heavy loading condition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 349(C).
    2. Liao, Shuxin & Qiu, Diankai & Yi, Peiyun & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2022. "Modeling of a novel cathode flow field design with optimized sub-channels to improve drainage for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    3. Song Yan & Mingyang Yang & Chuanyu Sun & Sichuan Xu, 2023. "Liquid Water Characteristics in the Compressed Gradient Porosity Gas Diffusion Layer of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells Using the Lattice Boltzmann Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Hossein Pourrahmani & Majid Siavashi & Adel Yavarinasab & Mardit Matian & Nazanin Chitgar & Ligang Wang & Jan Van herle, 2022. "A Review on the Long-Term Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: From Degradation Modeling to the Effects of Bipolar Plates, Sealings, and Contaminants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-30, July.
    5. Jaydev Chetan Zaveri & Shankar Raman Dhanushkodi & C. Ramesh Kumar & Jan Taler & Marek Majdak & Bohdan Węglowski, 2023. "Predicting the Performance of PEM Fuel Cells by Determining Dehydration or Flooding in the Cell Using Machine Learning Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-16, October.

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