Design of PEMFC bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theory
During the operation of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the chemical reaction yields a large amount of heat. Long-term operation may cause local overheating problems which damage the proton exchange membrane structure, pull down the fuel cell performance drastically. Aiming at improv...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2023-10-01
|
| Series: | Energy Conversion and Management: X |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174523001010 |
| _version_ | 1797736597120090112 |
|---|---|
| author | Xi Chen Fasen Chai Shenglin Hu Jingying Tan Liang Luo Huahui Xie Zhongmin Wan Zhiguo Qu |
| author_facet | Xi Chen Fasen Chai Shenglin Hu Jingying Tan Liang Luo Huahui Xie Zhongmin Wan Zhiguo Qu |
| author_sort | Xi Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During the operation of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the chemical reaction yields a large amount of heat. Long-term operation may cause local overheating problems which damage the proton exchange membrane structure, pull down the fuel cell performance drastically. Aiming at improving the temperature distribution and cooling capacity of PEMFC, a novel tree-shaped fractal fuel cell bipolar plate cooling flow field is proposed. The polarization curve, current density distribution, maximum temperature, temperature uniformity, cooling hydraulic pressure drop and the water content of proton exchange membrane are investigated for the fractal cooling flow field with different number of dimensions. The results show that the tree-shaped fractal cooling flow field can achieve better distributions of coolant and temperature uniformity than parallel cooling flow field. The maximum temperature reduces from 340.7 K to 337.8 K, and temperature uniformity index reduces from 1.47 to 0.45, respectively. Compared with the serpentine cooling flow field, the tree-shaped fractal cooling flow field effectively solves the problem of excessive cooling pressure drop and reduces the parasitic power loss while ensuring efficient cooling performance. This novel cooling flow field design offers an excellent solution to solve the local overheating of PEMFC. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:16:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1b9e8a21d51f4ec983609923152a28a6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2590-1745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:16:12Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energy Conversion and Management: X |
| spelling | doaj.art-1b9e8a21d51f4ec983609923152a28a62023-08-27T04:28:07ZengElsevierEnergy Conversion and Management: X2590-17452023-10-0120100445Design of PEMFC bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theoryXi Chen0Fasen Chai1Shenglin Hu2Jingying Tan3Liang Luo4Huahui Xie5Zhongmin Wan6Zhiguo Qu7College of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, China; Corresponding authors.College of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, ChinaCollege of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, ChinaCollege of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, ChinaCollege of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, ChinaDepartment of Civil and Architecture Engineering, Wuyi University, Jiangmen 529020, ChinaCollege of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, China; Corresponding authors.State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi′an Jiaotong University, Xi′an 710049, ChinaDuring the operation of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the chemical reaction yields a large amount of heat. Long-term operation may cause local overheating problems which damage the proton exchange membrane structure, pull down the fuel cell performance drastically. Aiming at improving the temperature distribution and cooling capacity of PEMFC, a novel tree-shaped fractal fuel cell bipolar plate cooling flow field is proposed. The polarization curve, current density distribution, maximum temperature, temperature uniformity, cooling hydraulic pressure drop and the water content of proton exchange membrane are investigated for the fractal cooling flow field with different number of dimensions. The results show that the tree-shaped fractal cooling flow field can achieve better distributions of coolant and temperature uniformity than parallel cooling flow field. The maximum temperature reduces from 340.7 K to 337.8 K, and temperature uniformity index reduces from 1.47 to 0.45, respectively. Compared with the serpentine cooling flow field, the tree-shaped fractal cooling flow field effectively solves the problem of excessive cooling pressure drop and reduces the parasitic power loss while ensuring efficient cooling performance. This novel cooling flow field design offers an excellent solution to solve the local overheating of PEMFC.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174523001010PEMFCBipolar plateTemperature distributionFractal flow field |
| spellingShingle | Xi Chen Fasen Chai Shenglin Hu Jingying Tan Liang Luo Huahui Xie Zhongmin Wan Zhiguo Qu Design of PEMFC bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theory Energy Conversion and Management: X PEMFC Bipolar plate Temperature distribution Fractal flow field |
| title | Design of PEMFC bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theory |
| title_full | Design of PEMFC bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theory |
| title_fullStr | Design of PEMFC bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Design of PEMFC bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theory |
| title_short | Design of PEMFC bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theory |
| title_sort | design of pemfc bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theory |
| topic | PEMFC Bipolar plate Temperature distribution Fractal flow field |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174523001010 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xichen designofpemfcbipolarplatecoolingflowfieldbasedonfractaltheory AT fasenchai designofpemfcbipolarplatecoolingflowfieldbasedonfractaltheory AT shenglinhu designofpemfcbipolarplatecoolingflowfieldbasedonfractaltheory AT jingyingtan designofpemfcbipolarplatecoolingflowfieldbasedonfractaltheory AT liangluo designofpemfcbipolarplatecoolingflowfieldbasedonfractaltheory AT huahuixie designofpemfcbipolarplatecoolingflowfieldbasedonfractaltheory AT zhongminwan designofpemfcbipolarplatecoolingflowfieldbasedonfractaltheory AT zhiguoqu designofpemfcbipolarplatecoolingflowfieldbasedonfractaltheory |