On the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in PEM Fuel Cells

Polymeric Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) are promising power propulsion systems for the decarbonization of the transportation sector. Despite being a well-known method for the direct production of electric current from the reactants chemical energy, one of the major limitations to their large-...

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Autores principales:	d’Adamo Alessandro, Borghi Massimo
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FR
Publicado:	EDP Sciences 2021
Materias:	Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e2dd242d5d924a2d9de9696add0b901f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e2dd242d5d924a2d9de9696add0b901f2021-11-08T15:18:51ZOn the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in PEM Fuel Cells2267-124210.1051/e3sconf/202131207018https://doaj.org/article/e2dd242d5d924a2d9de9696add0b901f2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2021/88/e3sconf_ati2021_07018.pdfhttps://doaj.org/toc/2267-1242Polymeric Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) are promising power propulsion systems for the decarbonization of the transportation sector. Despite being a well-known method for the direct production of electric current from the reactants chemical energy, one of the major limitations to their large-scale industrial development are fluid dynamics and mass transport aspects, crucially limiting the electrochemistry rate under critical conditions. This is especially verified in PEMFC with serpentine-type gas distributors, for which such areas are identified in proximity of the gas channel bends where the dominant mechanism for species transport shifts from a convection-enhanced to a diffusion-limited one. An engineering method to enhance the convective transport in such deficient areas is the use of gas distributors with tapered channels, effectively forcing the flow in diffusive media and improving the reactants delivery rate and products removal. A numerical analysis is presented on a limited domain representing a section of a serpentine gas distributor. A multi-dimensional CFD study is carried out comparing conventional-type and tapered channel distributors, evaluating the combined effect of pressure losses, catalyst layers utilization, flow regime in anisotropic diffusion media and convection/diffusion balance via a non-dimensional analysis. The study covers various inlet Reynolds numbers and in-plane permeability of porous materials for two diffusion media thicknesses, with the aim to extend the generality of the study. Conclusions based on the simulation results outline channel tapering as a very effective way to improve the power density of PEMFC, although an energetic cost/benefit analysis indicates a reduced cell efficiency.d’Adamo AlessandroBorghi MassimoEDP SciencesarticleEnvironmental sciencesGE1-350ENFRE3S Web of Conferences, Vol 312, p 07018 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR
topic	Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	Environmental sciences GE1-350 d’Adamo Alessandro Borghi Massimo On the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in PEM Fuel Cells
description	Polymeric Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) are promising power propulsion systems for the decarbonization of the transportation sector. Despite being a well-known method for the direct production of electric current from the reactants chemical energy, one of the major limitations to their large-scale industrial development are fluid dynamics and mass transport aspects, crucially limiting the electrochemistry rate under critical conditions. This is especially verified in PEMFC with serpentine-type gas distributors, for which such areas are identified in proximity of the gas channel bends where the dominant mechanism for species transport shifts from a convection-enhanced to a diffusion-limited one. An engineering method to enhance the convective transport in such deficient areas is the use of gas distributors with tapered channels, effectively forcing the flow in diffusive media and improving the reactants delivery rate and products removal. A numerical analysis is presented on a limited domain representing a section of a serpentine gas distributor. A multi-dimensional CFD study is carried out comparing conventional-type and tapered channel distributors, evaluating the combined effect of pressure losses, catalyst layers utilization, flow regime in anisotropic diffusion media and convection/diffusion balance via a non-dimensional analysis. The study covers various inlet Reynolds numbers and in-plane permeability of porous materials for two diffusion media thicknesses, with the aim to extend the generality of the study. Conclusions based on the simulation results outline channel tapering as a very effective way to improve the power density of PEMFC, although an energetic cost/benefit analysis indicates a reduced cell efficiency.
format	article
author	d’Adamo Alessandro Borghi Massimo
author_facet	d’Adamo Alessandro Borghi Massimo
author_sort	d’Adamo Alessandro
title	On the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in PEM Fuel Cells
title_short	On the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in PEM Fuel Cells
title_full	On the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in PEM Fuel Cells
title_fullStr	On the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in PEM Fuel Cells
title_full_unstemmed	On the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in PEM Fuel Cells
title_sort	on the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in pem fuel cells
publisher	EDP Sciences
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/e2dd242d5d924a2d9de9696add0b901f
work_keys_str_mv	AT dadamoalessandro ontheuseoftaperedchannelsgasdistributorstopromoteconvectioninpemfuelcells AT borghimassimo ontheuseoftaperedchannelsgasdistributorstopromoteconvectioninpemfuelcells
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On the use of tapered channels gas distributors to promote convection in PEM Fuel Cells

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