Heat and mass transfer

Computational Fluid Dynamics Study of a Compound Flow Field for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Performance Enhancement

  • Venkateswarlu VELISALA ,
  • Gandhi PULLAGURA ,
  • Naveen Kumar CHINNAM ,
  • Raju GANTA
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  • 1. Automobile Engineering Section, Damacharla Anjaneyulu Government Polytechnic, Ongole 523002, Andhra Pradesh, India
    2. GITAM Institute of Technology, Visakhapatnam 530045, Andhra Pradesh, India 
    3. Vishnu Institute of Technology, Bhimavaram 534202, Andhra Pradesh, India
    4. BVC Engineering College, Odalarevu 533210, Andhra Pradesh, India

Online published: 2023-12-04

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract

The aim of the present work is to evaluate proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell performance with a modified serpentine flow field with right angle turn by numerical modeling. A 3-D PEM fuel cell model of size 50 cm2 active area is developed. A conventional serpentine flow field is modified and the same is considered for the supply of reactants. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based simulations were conducted to analyse the pressure drop, distribution of reactants (H2 and O2), liquid water activity, current flux density and water content in the membrane. From the simulation results, polarization curve is drawn to validate the literature data of PEMFC with the conventional serpentine flow field. Comparison of simulated polarization curve with literature data revealed that modified serpentine flow field performance is better than conventional serpentine flow field as it offers better water exclusion and uniform sharing of reactants. From this study, it is concluded that model of flow field pattern influences the functioning of fuel cell and utmost care must take while selecting a pattern for flow field of PEM fuel cell.

Cite this article

Venkateswarlu VELISALA , Gandhi PULLAGURA , Naveen Kumar CHINNAM , Raju GANTA . Computational Fluid Dynamics Study of a Compound Flow Field for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Performance Enhancement[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2022 , 31(6) : 2374 -2384 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-022-1636-3

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