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Effect of the geometry and pattern of the flow channel on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

  • Energy and Environmental Engineering
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Abstract

This research focuses on the effect of the geometry and patterns of the gas flow channel on the PEM fuel cell performance. Simulation was conducted and the results were verified by experiments. Three-dimensional, single phase, compressible and isothermal models of 5 cm2 electrodes, anode and cathode, were developed and studied by utilizing a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, FLUENT 4.5. Two types of gas flow channel were investigated: conventional and interdigitated. The results showed that the flow channel pattern does not have a significant effect on the anode cell performance, whereas it has a strong effect/influence on the cathode cell performance. The interdigitated design provides a higher limiting current density and cell performance than the conventional design on the cathode side. Moreover, the cell performance does not depend on the inlet and outlet channel widths. On the contrary, for the interdigitated design, it was influenced by the shoulder width. Finally, experiments were conducted to validate the simulation results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fuels Research Center, Department of Chemical Technology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Kronkanok Hongthong, Kejvalee Pruksathorn & Pornpote Piumsomboon

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Paiboon Sripakagorn

Authors
  1. Kronkanok Hongthong
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  2. Kejvalee Pruksathorn
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  3. Pornpote Piumsomboon
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  4. Paiboon Sripakagorn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pornpote Piumsomboon.

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Hongthong, K., Pruksathorn, K., Piumsomboon, P. et al. Effect of the geometry and pattern of the flow channel on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 24, 612–617 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-007-0012-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-007-0012-z

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