Variation Characteristic Analysis of Water Content at the Flow Channel of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Zhang, Lu; Liu, Yongfeng; Pei, Pucheng; Liu, Xintong; Wang, Long; Wan, Yuan

doi:10.3390/en15093280

Open AccessArticle

Variation Characteristic Analysis of Water Content at the Flow Channel of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

by

Lu Zhang

¹,

Yongfeng Liu

^1,2,*,

Pucheng Pei

^2,*,

Xintong Liu

¹,

Long Wang

¹ and

Yuan Wan

¹

School of Mechanical-Electronic and Vehicle Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing 100044, China

²

State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Energies 2022, 15(9), 3280; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093280

Submission received: 10 March 2022 / Revised: 24 April 2022 / Accepted: 25 April 2022 / Published: 29 April 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design, Testing and Fault Diagnosis for Fuel Cells)

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Abstract

The performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is directly affected by the nonlinear variations in water content. To study the variation in water content and its effect on PEMFC performance, the water condensation rate (WCR) model is established, which determines the proportional relationship between evaporation and condensation rates in terms of the switch function, and the two-phase flow evolution and pressure drop are considered as well. The WCR model is imported into Fluent software through a user-defined function for simulation, and the test system is established under different operating conditions. Then, the contours of H₂O molar concentrations and polarization curves are analyzed and compared. The results show that the condensation rate value of the cathode channel is from 1.05 to 1.55 times higher than that of the anode channel. The WCR model can predict the variation in water content and improve the accuracy of the performance calculation by from 9% to 31%. The accuracy of the WCR model is especially improved, by 31%, at high current densities compared with the Fluent model when the inlet pressure is 30 kPa.

Keywords: PEM fuel cells; WCR model; flow channel; water content; accuracy

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MDPI and ACS Style

Zhang, L.; Liu, Y.; Pei, P.; Liu, X.; Wang, L.; Wan, Y. Variation Characteristic Analysis of Water Content at the Flow Channel of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. Energies 2022, 15, 3280. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093280

AMA Style

Zhang L, Liu Y, Pei P, Liu X, Wang L, Wan Y. Variation Characteristic Analysis of Water Content at the Flow Channel of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. Energies. 2022; 15(9):3280. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093280

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhang, Lu, Yongfeng Liu, Pucheng Pei, Xintong Liu, Long Wang, and Yuan Wan. 2022. "Variation Characteristic Analysis of Water Content at the Flow Channel of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell" Energies 15, no. 9: 3280. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093280

APA Style

Zhang, L., Liu, Y., Pei, P., Liu, X., Wang, L., & Wan, Y. (2022). Variation Characteristic Analysis of Water Content at the Flow Channel of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. Energies, 15(9), 3280. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093280

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Variation Characteristic Analysis of Water Content at the Flow Channel of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

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