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Experimental Analysis of Large Active Area Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Stack for Determining Optimal Operating Conditions

  • Research Article-Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

Various parameters affect the performance of the PEM fuel cell. Determining the optimal point for the performance of a fuel cell stack has attracted the attention of many researchers. In this paper, the effect of various operating parameters such as relative humidity, temperature, pressure and stoichiometry for the performance of a three-cell fuel cell stack with a large active area (500 cm2) has been investigated. Local voltage measurement of each cell under different conditions was performed during the experiment. Appropriate operating conditions have been extracted by analyzing the polarization curve, the standard deviation of voltage and stack efficiency using the least-squares optimization method. The results showed that the performance of the stack is improved by about 1–2%, by increasing the relative humidity of the cathode (from 50 to 100%) at low current densities due to the hydration of the membrane. By increasing the temperature of the stack from 50 to 80 °C, it is observed that the reaction rate is increased resulting in a performance improvement of 4%. It is found that by increasing the reactant’s outlet pressure from 0.5 to 2.0 barg, the gas diffusion rate in the diffusion layer and the catalyst surface increased, the voltage deviation between the cells decreased by half, and therefore stack performance improved by 4–6%. By increasing the stoichiometry of the cathode from 1.02 to 1.6, water and fuel management is enhanced, the voltage deviation between the cells is reduced by 2%, and fuel cell stack performance is improved by 1%.

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Abbreviations

I :

Electric stack load setpoint (A)

I :

Electric stack load (A or Amp)

i :

Stack current density setpoint (A/cm2)

i :

Stack current density (A/cm2)

\({U}_{\mathrm{Stack}}\) :

Stack voltage (V)

\({U}_{\mathrm{Ave},\mathrm{Cell}}\) :

Average cell voltage (V)

\({\lambda }_{\mathrm{fuel}}\) :

Stoichiometry stack anode

\({\lambda }_{\mathrm{ox}}\) :

Stoichiometry stack cathode

\({\mathrm{DP}}_{\mathrm{fuel}}\) :

Dew point temp. stack inlet anode (°C)

\({\mathrm{RH}}_{\mathrm{fuel}}\) :

Relative humidity stack inlet anode (%)

\({\mathrm{DP}}_{\mathrm{ox}}\) :

Dew point temp. stack inlet cathode (°C)

\({\mathrm{RH}}_{\mathrm{ox}}\) :

Relative humidity stack inlet cathode (%)

–:

Temperature stack inlet coolant liquid (°C)

–:

Temperature stack outlet coolant liquid (°C)

–:

Temperature stack inlet anode (°C)

–:

Temperature stack outlet anode (°C)

–:

Temperature stack inlet cathode (°C)

–:

Temperature stack outlet cathode (°C)

\({p}_{\mathrm{fuel}}\) :

Pressure stack outlet anode (barg)

\({p}_{\mathrm{ox}}\) :

Pressure stack outlet cathode (barg)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Babol “Noshiravani” University of Technology, Babol, Iran

    N. Eslami, A. A. Ranjbar & S. M. Rahgoshay

  2. Northern Research Center for Science and Technology, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    M. Rahimi-Esbo

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  1. N. Eslami
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  2. A. A. Ranjbar
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  3. M. Rahimi-Esbo
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  4. S. M. Rahgoshay
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Correspondence to M. Rahimi-Esbo.

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Eslami, N., Ranjbar, A.A., Rahimi-Esbo, M. et al. Experimental Analysis of Large Active Area Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Stack for Determining Optimal Operating Conditions. Arab J Sci Eng 48, 11873–11898 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-023-07603-4

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