A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications
Climate change and the major threat it poses to the environment and human lives is the major challenge the world faces today. To overcome this challenge, it is recommended that future automobiles have zero carbon exhaust emissions. Even though battery electric vehicles reduce carbon emissions relati...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9520 |
| _version_ | 1797459514197278720 |
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| author | Suprava Chakraborty Devaraj Elangovan Karthikeyan Palaniswamy Ashley Fly Dineshkumar Ravi Denis Ashok Sathia Seelan Thundil Karuppa Raj Rajagopal |
| author_facet | Suprava Chakraborty Devaraj Elangovan Karthikeyan Palaniswamy Ashley Fly Dineshkumar Ravi Denis Ashok Sathia Seelan Thundil Karuppa Raj Rajagopal |
| author_sort | Suprava Chakraborty |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change and the major threat it poses to the environment and human lives is the major challenge the world faces today. To overcome this challenge, it is recommended that future automobiles have zero carbon exhaust emissions. Even though battery electric vehicles reduce carbon emissions relative to combustion engines, a carbon footprint still remains in the overall ecosystem unless the battery is powered by renewable energy sources. The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is an alternate source for automotive mobility which, similar to battery electric vehicles, has zero carbon emissions from its exhaust pipe. Moreover, the typical system level efficiency of a PEMFC is higher than an equivalent internal combustion powertrain. This review article covers the background history, working principles, challenges and applications of PEMFCs for automotive transportation and power generation in industries. Since the performance of a PEMFC is greatly influenced by the design of the anode and cathode flow channels, an in-depth review has been carried out on different types of flow channel designs. This review reveals the importance of flow channel design with respect to uniform gas (reactant) distribution, membrane proton conductivity, water flooding and thermal management. An exhaustive study has been carried out on different types of flow channels, such as parallel, serpentine, interdigitated and bio-inspired, with respect to their performance and applications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:53:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1ac9450ef1584d139aaed07a68bedb4f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:53:29Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-1ac9450ef1584d139aaed07a68bedb4f2023-11-24T14:38:25ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732022-12-011524952010.3390/en15249520A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive ApplicationsSuprava Chakraborty0Devaraj Elangovan1Karthikeyan Palaniswamy2Ashley Fly3Dineshkumar Ravi4Denis Ashok Sathia Seelan5Thundil Karuppa Raj Rajagopal6TIFAC-CORE, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, IndiaTIFAC-CORE, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, IndiaDepartment of Automobile Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore 641004, IndiaAeronautical and Automotive Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UKDepartment of Automotive Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, IndiaDepartment of Automotive Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, IndiaDepartment of Automotive Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, IndiaClimate change and the major threat it poses to the environment and human lives is the major challenge the world faces today. To overcome this challenge, it is recommended that future automobiles have zero carbon exhaust emissions. Even though battery electric vehicles reduce carbon emissions relative to combustion engines, a carbon footprint still remains in the overall ecosystem unless the battery is powered by renewable energy sources. The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is an alternate source for automotive mobility which, similar to battery electric vehicles, has zero carbon emissions from its exhaust pipe. Moreover, the typical system level efficiency of a PEMFC is higher than an equivalent internal combustion powertrain. This review article covers the background history, working principles, challenges and applications of PEMFCs for automotive transportation and power generation in industries. Since the performance of a PEMFC is greatly influenced by the design of the anode and cathode flow channels, an in-depth review has been carried out on different types of flow channel designs. This review reveals the importance of flow channel design with respect to uniform gas (reactant) distribution, membrane proton conductivity, water flooding and thermal management. An exhaustive study has been carried out on different types of flow channels, such as parallel, serpentine, interdigitated and bio-inspired, with respect to their performance and applications.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9520proton exchange membrane fuel cellcomputational fluid dynamicsflow field channelsbio-inspiredserpentine |
| spellingShingle | Suprava Chakraborty Devaraj Elangovan Karthikeyan Palaniswamy Ashley Fly Dineshkumar Ravi Denis Ashok Sathia Seelan Thundil Karuppa Raj Rajagopal A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications Energies proton exchange membrane fuel cell computational fluid dynamics flow field channels bio-inspired serpentine |
| title | A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications |
| title_full | A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications |
| title_fullStr | A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications |
| title_short | A Review on the Numerical Studies on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Flow Channel Designs for Automotive Applications |
| title_sort | review on the numerical studies on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell pemfc flow channel designs for automotive applications |
| topic | proton exchange membrane fuel cell computational fluid dynamics flow field channels bio-inspired serpentine |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9520 |
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