Numerical investigation of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance subjected to various humidification and thermal conditions is the focus of this study. Governing equations describing species, mass, momentum, and enthalpy conservation are employed and solved by a computational fluid dynamic algorithm to obtain domain's physical properties and cell performance. The model accounts for electrochemical kinetic as well as two-phase flow with phase change and water transport. Numerical prediction results use polarization curves and contour plots to illustrate the effects of various humidification schemes and temperature gradient scenarios. Findings show that humidification-level perturbation on the anode or cathode side creates different effects. Mechanisms influencing performance-variation tendencies are interpreted. In addition modelling results with existing temperature gradient exhibit different trends on the overpotentials depending on the slope and magnitude. At higher cathode temperature, it is shown that polarization curves are dominated by reaction kinetics and membrane water content at medium and high reaction rates, respectively.
SpiegelR. J.GilchristT.HouseD. E.Fuel cell bus operation at high altitude. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part A: J. Power and Energy, 1999, 213, 57–68.
2.
NguyenT.WhiteR. E.A water and heat management model for proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells. J. Electrochem. Soc., 1993, 140 (8), 2178–2186.
3.
ZawodzinskiT. A.DerouinC.RadzinskiS.ShermanR. J.SmithV. T.SpringerT. E.GottesfeldS.Water uptake by and transport through Nafion 117 membrane. J. Electrochem. Soc., 1993, 140 (3), 1041–1047.
4.
SiegelN. P.EllisM. W.NelsonD. J.von SpakovskyM. R.A two-dimensional computational model of a PEMFC with liquid water transport. J. Power Sources, 2004, 128, 173–184.
5.
VossH. H.WilkinsonD. P.PickupP. G.JohnsonM. C.BasuraV.Anode water removal: a water management and diagnostic technique for solid polymer fuel cells. Electrochim. Acta, 1995, 40 (3), 321–328.
6.
WoodD. L.IIIYiJ. S.NguyenT. V.Effect of direct liquid water injection and interdigitated flow field on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Electrochim. Acta, 1998, 43 (24), 3795–3809.
7.
BernardiD. M.Water-balance calculation for solid-polymer-electrolyte fuel cells. J. Electrochem. Soc., 1990, 137 (11), 3344–3350.
8.
BernardiD. M.VerbruggeM. V.Mathematical model of a gas diffusion electrode bounded to a polymer electrolyte. AIChE J., 1991, 37 (8), 1151–1163.
9.
BernardiD. M.VerbruggeM. W.A mathematical model of the solid-polymer-electrolyte fuel cell. J. Electrochem. Soc., 1992, 139 (9), 2477–2491.
FullerT. F.NeumanJ.Water and thermal management in solid-polymer-electrolyte fuel cells. J. Electrochem. Soc., 1993, 140 (5), 1218–1225.
12.
YiJ. S.NguyenT. V.An along-the-channel model for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. J. Electrochem. Soc., 1998, 145 (4), 1149–1159.
13.
RoweA.LiX.Mathematical modeling of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. J. Power Sources, 2001, 102, 82–96.
14.
BaschukJ. J.LiX.Modeling of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with variable degree of water flooding. J. Power Sources, 2000, 86, 181–196.
15.
SimpaleeS.DuttaS.Numerical prediction of temperature distribution in PEM fuel cells. Numer. Heat Trans. Part A, 2000, 38, 111–128.
16.
DjilaliN.LuD.Influence of heat transfer on gas and water transport in fuel cells. Int. J. Therm. Sci., 2002, 41, 29–40.
17.
JuH.MengH.WangC. Y.A single-phase, non-isothremal model for PEM fuel cells. Int. J. Heat Mass Trans., 2005, 48, 1303–1315.
18.
WangardW.IIIDandyD. S.MillerB. J.A numerical stable method for integration of the multi-component species diffusion equations. J. Comp. Phys., 2001, 174, 460–472.
19.
CusslerE. L.Diffusion mass transfer in fluid system, 2nd edition, 1997 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
20.
GurauV.BarbierF.LiuH. T.An analytical solution of a half-cell model for PEM fuel cell. J. Electrochem Soc., 2000, 147 (7), 2468–2477.
21.
WangC. Y.ChengP.Multiphase flow and heat transfer in porous media. In Advance in heat transfer (Eds HartnettJ. P.IrvineT. F.Jr.ChoY. I.GreeneG. A.), 1997 (Acadmic Press, San Diego).
22.
MazumderS.ColeJ. S.Rigorous 3-D mathematical modeling of PEM fuel cells II. Model predictions with liquid water transport. J. Electrochem. Soc., 2003, 150 (11), A1510–A1517.
23.
WangC. Y.BeckermannC.A two-phase mixture model of liquid-gas flow and heat transfer in capillary porous media-I. Formulation. Int. J. Heat Mass Trans.1993, 36 (11), 2747–2758.
24.
HeW.YiJ. S.NguyenT. V.Two-phase flow model of the cathode of PEM fuel cells using interdigitated flow fields. AIChE J., 2000, 46 (10), 2053–2064.
25.
ParthasarathyA.SrinivasanS.ApplebyA. J.Temperature dependence of the electrode kinetics of oxygen reduction at the platinum/nafion interface-a microelectrode investigation. J. Electrochem. Soc., 1992, 139(9), 2530–2537.
26.
NguyenP. T.BerningT.DjilaliN.Computational model of a PEM fuel cell with serpentine gas flow channels. J. Power Sources, 2004, 130, 149–157.
27.
HwangJ. J.ChenC. K.SavinellR. F.LiuC. C.WainrightJ.A three-dimensional numerical simulation of the transport phenomena in the cathodic side of a PEMFC. J. Appl. Electrochem., 2004, 34, 217–224.
28.
HuG.FanJ.ChenS.LiuY.CenK.Three-dimensional numerical analysis of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with conventional and interdigitated flow fields. J. Power Sources, 2004, 136, 1–9.
29.
PatankerS. V.Numerical heat transfer and fluid flow, 1st edition, 1980 (Hemisphere, New York).
30.
WangL.HusarA.ZhouT.LiuH.A parametric study of PEM fuel cell performances. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 2003, 28, 1263–1272.
31.
BerningT.DjilaliN.Three-dimensional computational analysis of transport phenomena in a PEM fuel cell - a parametric study. J. Power Sources, 2003, 124, 440–452.
