Open Access

ARTICLE

Water Flow Characteristics and Related Effects in PEMFC

Mingge Wu¹, Lei Wang¹, Yixiang Wang¹, Cheng Zhang¹, Cheng Qiu^{1, 2, *}

1 College of mechanical and electrical engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, 325035, China.
2 Haitian Drive Systems Co., Ltd., Ningbo, 315800, China.

* Corresponding Author: Qiu Cheng. Email: .

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: EFD and Heat Transfer)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2019, 15(4), 431-444. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2019.08209

Abstract

Water management in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) is a topic of great importance for the optimization of these systems. Effective proton conductivity calls for moderate moisture content in the membrane, while uneven water distribution can lead to instability of the whole flow field, thereby decreasing the performance of the fuel cell. In the present study, a simplified two-tier hybrid structure is used to investigate the impact of the dynamic behavior of liquid water on the current density of the PEMFC. Simulation results show that water droplets attached to wall sides tend to increase current density. Visualization experiments confirm the existence of liquid droplets and the enhancement of current density, while indicating that the best performance and stability of fuel cell are attained for a cathode air flow rate of 300 ml/min.

---

Keywords

---