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Experimental and numerical investigation on the oxygen distribution in the cathode section of a PEMFC stack

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  • Rezaei, Ahmad
  • Rahimi-Esbo, Mazaher
  • Firouzjaei, Kamran Dadashi
  • Alizadeh, Ebrahim

Abstract

In this paper, the impact of the inlet flow rate, operating pressure, stack configuration and inlet manifold width on the oxygen distribution among the channels of a fuel cell stack is studied. The standard deviation is used to calculate the severity of oxygen maldistribution. The oxygen flow in the U configuration is more uniformly distributed than in the Z configuration. The most even oxygen distribution is obtained for the UZ configuration. The standard deviation for the U, Z and UZ configurations at an inlet flow rate of 80 SLPM is calculated as 0.023, 0.038 and 0.009. The oxygen distribution for the U configuration is independent of the inlet flow rate. The standard deviation for the Z and UZ configurations reduces to 0.030 and 0.007 at an inlet flow rate of 40 SLPM. In addition, the operating pressure does not affect the oxygen distribution in three configurations. The standard deviation for the Z and UZ configurations increases from 0.38 and 0.009 to 0.4 and 0.012 as the inlet manifold width decreased from 15 mm to 12.2 mm. In contrast, the flow distribution in the U configuration stack improves and the standard deviation decreases from 0.023 to 0.019.

Suggested Citation

  • Rezaei, Ahmad & Rahimi-Esbo, Mazaher & Firouzjaei, Kamran Dadashi & Alizadeh, Ebrahim, 2026. "Experimental and numerical investigation on the oxygen distribution in the cathode section of a PEMFC stack," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:256:y:2026:i:pb:s096014812501660x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.123996
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jiang, Ke & Fan, Wenxuan & Zhao, Taotao & Liu, Mingxin & Su, Xunkang & Luan, Yang & Zheng, Tongxi & Feng, Yihui & Wang, Mi & Lu, Guolong & Liu, Zhenning, 2025. "A biomimetic airfoil flow field to improve mass transfer and gas distribution of PEMFC," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
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    4. Mazaher Rahimi-Esbo & Ahmad Rezaei Sangtabi & Ebrahim Alizadeh, 2022. "Manifold Design in a PEM Fuel Cell Stack to Improve Flow Distribution Uniformity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
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