IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v279y2023ics0360544223014238.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Water management and performance enhancement in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell system using optimized gas recirculation devices

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Yang
  • Tu, Zhengkai
  • Chan, Siew Hwa

Abstract

Fuel gas utilization and water management are particularly challenging integrated engineering problems in hydrogen-oxygen proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems. Ejectors are promising fuel cell exhaust gas recirculation devices that can be used to address both challenges. In this study, hydrogen and oxygen recirculation ejectors are designed and manufactured using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. An experimental investigation on a 1 kW PEMFC system with anodic and cathodic dual-ejector- based gas recirculation is presented. Key parameters such as stack current, stack voltage, cell voltage, operating pressure, and mass flow rate at the primary flow and secondary flow of the anode ejector are measured. The performance of the PEMFC stack equipped with 3D-printed ejectors is compared to that of commercial ejectors. The experimental results reveal that the 3D-printed ejector significantly outperforms the commercial ejector in terms of entrainment ratio, with an improvement rate of up to 31.3%. The performance of the PEMFC stack in the dual-ejector recirculation mode increased by 4.75% with a current density of 320 mA cm−2 compared with dead ended mode in 130 kPa. Furthermore, the dual-ejector recirculation mode of the PEMFC stack outperforms that of the dead-end anode and cathode mode during dynamic loading by alleviating the gas shortage problem of the PEMFC stack.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Yang & Tu, Zhengkai & Chan, Siew Hwa, 2023. "Water management and performance enhancement in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell system using optimized gas recirculation devices," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:279:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223014238
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.128029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223014238
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2023.128029?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. Liu, Shihua & Chen, Tao & Zhang, Cheng & Xie, Yi, 2020. "Study on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with dead-ended anode in gravity environment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    2. Fan, Ruijia & Chang, Guofeng & Xu, Yiming & Xu, Jiamin, 2023. "Multi-objective optimization of graded catalyst layer to improve performance and current density uniformity of a PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    3. Chang, Huawei & Cai, Fengyang & Yu, Xianxian & Duan, Chen & Chan, Siew Hwa & Tu, Zhengkai, 2023. "Experimental study on the thermal management of an open-cathode air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack with ultra-thin metal bipolar plates," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PA).
    4. Chen, Ben & Wang, Jun & Yang, Tianqi & Cai, Yonghua & Zhang, Caizhi & Chan, Siew Hwa & Yu, Yi & Tu, Zhengkai, 2016. "Carbon corrosion and performance degradation mechanism in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with dead-ended anode and cathode," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 54-62.
    5. Barzegari, Mohammad Mahdi & Rahgoshay, Seyed Majid & Mohammadpour, Lliya & Toghraie, Davood, 2019. "Performance prediction and analysis of a dead-end PEMFC stack using data-driven dynamic model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    6. Chen, Ben & Cai, Yonghua & Yu, Yi & Wang, Jun & Tu, Zhengkai & Chan, Siew Hwa, 2017. "Gas purging effect on the degradation characteristic of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with dead-ended mode operation II. Under different operation pressures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 50-57.
    7. 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).
    8. Zhao, Lei & Yuan, Hao & Xie, Jiaping & Jiang, Shangfeng & Wei, Xuezhe & Tang, Wei & Ming, Pingwen & Dai, Haifeng, 2023. "Inconsistency evaluation of vehicle-oriented fuel cell stacks based on electrochemical impedance under dynamic operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    9. Liu, Zhiyang & Chen, Jian & Liu, Hao & Yan, Chizhou & Hou, Yang & He, Qinggang & Zhang, Jiujun & Hissel, Daniel, 2020. "Anode purge management for hydrogen utilization and stack durability improvement of PEM fuel cell systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    10. Song, Yajie & Wang, Xinli & Wang, Lei & Pan, Fengwen & Chen, Wenmiao & Xi, Fuqiang, 2021. "A twin-nozzle ejector for hydrogen recirculation in wide power operation of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    11. Chen, Ben & Cai, Yonghua & Tu, Zhengkai & Chan, Siew Hwa & Wang, Jun & Yu, Yi, 2017. "Gas purging effect on the degradation characteristic of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with dead-ended mode operation I. With different electrolytes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 40-49.
    12. Meng, Kai & Zhou, Haoran & Chen, Ben & Tu, Zhengkai, 2021. "Dynamic current cycles effect on the degradation characteristic of a H2/O2 proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    13. Song, Ke & Wang, Yimin & Ding, Yuhang & Xu, Hongjie & Mueller-Welt, Philip & Stuermlinger, Tobias & Bause, Katharina & Ehrmann, Christopher & Weinmann, Hannes W. & Schaefer, Jens & Fleischer, Juergen , 2022. "Assembly techniques for proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack: A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    14. Tashtoush, Bourhan M. & Al-Nimr, Moh'd A. & Khasawneh, Mohammad A., 2019. "A comprehensive review of ejector design, performance, and applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 138-172.
    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. Fan, Lixin & liu, Yang & Luo, Xiaobing & Tu, Zhengkai & Chan, Siew Hwa, 2023. "A novel gas supply configuration for hydrogen utilization improvement in a multi-stack air-cooling PEMFC system with dead-ended anode," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(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. Chen, Dongfang & Pei, Pucheng & Ren, Peng & Song, Xin & Wang, He & Zhang, Lu & Wang, Mingkai, 2022. "Analytical methods for the effect of anode nitrogen concentration on performance and voltage consistency of proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    2. Chen, Ben & Zhou, Haoran & He, Shaowen & Meng, Kai & Liu, Yang & Cai, Yonghua, 2021. "Numerical simulation on purge strategy of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with dead-ended anode," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    3. Meng, Kai & Zhou, Haoran & Chen, Ben & Tu, Zhengkai, 2021. "Dynamic current cycles effect on the degradation characteristic of a H2/O2 proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Wang, Bowen & Deng, Hao & Jiao, Kui, 2018. "Purge strategy optimization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with anode recirculation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 1-13.
    6. Chen, Ben & Liu, Qi & Zhang, Cheng & Liu, Yang & Shen, Jun & Tu, Zhengkai, 2022. "Numerical study on water transfer characteristics under joint effect of placement orientation and flow channel size for PEMFC with dead-ended anode," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    7. Li, Bing & Wan, Kechuang & Xie, Meng & Chu, Tiankuo & Wang, Xiaolei & Li, Xiang & Yang, Daijun & Ming, Pingwen & Zhang, Cunman, 2022. "Durability degradation mechanism and consistency analysis for proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    8. Liu, Zhiyang & Chen, Jian & Liu, Hao & Yan, Chizhou & Hou, Yang & He, Qinggang & Zhang, Jiujun & Hissel, Daniel, 2020. "Anode purge management for hydrogen utilization and stack durability improvement of PEM fuel cell systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    9. Wang, Bowen & Wu, Kangcheng & Xi, Fuqiang & Xuan, Jin & Xie, Xu & Wang, Xiaoyang & Jiao, Kui, 2019. "Numerical analysis of operating conditions effects on PEMFC with anode recirculation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 844-856.
    10. Wang, Chuang & Liu, Mingkun & Li, Zengqun & Xing, Ziwen & Shu, Yue, 2023. "Performance improvement of twin-screw air expander used in PEMFC systems by two-phase expansion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    11. Steinberger, Michael & Geiling, Johannes & Oechsner, Richard & Frey, Lothar, 2018. "Anode recirculation and purge strategies for PEM fuel cell operation with diluted hydrogen feed gas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 572-582.
    12. Chen, Ben & Cai, Yonghua & Tu, Zhengkai & Chan, Siew Hwa & Wang, Jun & Yu, Yi, 2017. "Gas purging effect on the degradation characteristic of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with dead-ended mode operation I. With different electrolytes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 40-49.
    13. Xia, Zhifeng & Chen, Huicui & Zhang, Ruirui & Weng, Qianyao & Zhang, Tong & Pei, Pucheng, 2023. "Behavior analysis of PEMFC with geometric configuration variation during multiple-step loading reduction process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 349(C).
    14. Pan, Mingzhang & Pan, Chengjie & Li, Chao & Zhao, Jian, 2021. "A review of membranes in proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Transport phenomena, performance and durability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    15. Shen, Jun & Du, Changqing & Yan, Fuwu & Chen, Ben & Tu, Zhengkai, 2022. "Experimental study on the dynamic performance of a power system with dual air-cooled PEMFC stacks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    16. Jianmei Feng & Jiquan Han & Zihui Pang & Xueyuan Peng, 2023. "Designing Hydrogen Recirculation Ejectors for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-10, January.
    17. Qiu, Diankai & Peng, Linfa & Liang, Peng & Yi, Peiyun & Lai, Xinmin, 2018. "Mechanical degradation of proton exchange membrane along the MEA frame in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 210-222.
    18. Meng, Kai & Chen, Ben & Zhou, Haoran & Shen, Jun & Shen, Zuguo & Tu, Zhengkai, 2022. "Investigation on degradation mechanism of hydrogen–oxygen proton exchange membrane fuel cell under current cyclic loading," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    19. Wan, Yue & Qiu, Diankai & Yi, Peiyun & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2022. "Design and optimization of gradient wettability pore structure of adaptive PEM fuel cell cathode catalyst layer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    20. Chen, Huicui & Liu, Zhao & Ye, Xichen & Yi, Liu & Xu, Sichen & Zhang, Tong, 2022. "Air flow and pressure optimization for air supply in proton exchange membrane fuel cell system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PC).

    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:energy:v:279:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223014238. 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.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    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.