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Experimental Investigation on Local Behaviors of PEMFC with Segmented Cell

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Abstract

When designing a cell stack and developing an operational strategy for proton exchange membrane fuel cell, it is critical to characterize the local current, water and heat. To measure distributions of current density, relative humidity and temperature for both anode and cathode simultaneously along the straight parallel flow channels, this paper uses a segmented tool based on the multilayered printed circuit board flow field plates with embedded sensors. In this study, two kinds of experimental operations of fuel cell reactants are carried out for comparison: the co-flow operation with identical gas flow direction of hydrogen and air and the counter-flow operation with opposite gas flow directions. The detected relative humidity (RH) distributions of both anode and cathode indicate that the asymmetry of RH distribution at two sides of the membrane in counter-flow operation is better at holding water inside the fuel cell compared with the co-flow operation. The in situ measured performance distributions show that segments around the middle of the fuel cell contribute the highest current in counter-flow operation, while for co-flow operation, the current peak locates near the outlet of reactants.

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Abbreviations

PEMFC:

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell

MEA:

Membrane electrode assembly

RH:

Relative humidity

PCB:

Printed circuit board

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Acknowledgement

This work is sponsored by National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFB1502500), Science and Technology Program of Sichuan Province (No. 2019ZDZX0002 and No. 2019YFG0002) and Initiative Scientific Research Program of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (No.ZYGX2018KYQD207 and No.ZYGX2018KYQD206).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Automation Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610023, China

    Cong Yin, Yan Gao, Kai Li, Yating Song & Hao Tang

  2. Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610023, China

    Cong Yin, Yan Gao, Kai Li, Yating Song & Hao Tang

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  1. Cong Yin
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  2. Yan Gao
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  3. Kai Li
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  4. Yating Song
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  5. Hao Tang
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Correspondence to Cong Yin or Hao Tang.

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Yin, C., Gao, Y., Li, K. et al. Experimental Investigation on Local Behaviors of PEMFC with Segmented Cell. Automot. Innov. 4, 165–175 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42154-021-00145-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42154-021-00145-1

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