Research on performance optimization of electrolytic cell: Non-parameter topology and parameter optimization

The technology of water electrolysis for hydrogen production converts renewable energy into hydrogen, enabling efficient storage and utilization of clean energy. The key to enabling the large-scale development of water electrolysis technology lies in enhancing the performance of electrolytic cells and minimizing energy consumption. The mastoid process structure obviously influences the electrolytic cell's flow and electrochemical performance. Therefore, this paper studied the sensitivity of the mastoid process structure to the optimization target, designed the shape topology and the parameter optimization structure, and further analyzed the influence of the two optimization methods on the flow and electrochemical performance of the electrolytic cell based on the multi-physics coupling model. The results show that under the same deformation area, the pressure drop of the topology and the parameter optimization structure is reduced by 17.17 % and 11.89 % compared with that of the original structure. The electrochemical properties were almost unaffected, and the change value was less than 0.1 %. Topology optimization design can achieve optimal performance within limited deformation constraints, and parameter optimization design is more conducive to industrial processing.