An experimental study on the bubble humidification method of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

ABSTRACT

A necessary requirement for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance is providing sufficient water content in the membrane. The bubble humidifier is the simplest and inexpensive method for PEMFC humidification. In this study, a prototype of bubble humidifier is designed, fabricated, and tested. The effects of water temperature in the reservoir, water level inside the reservoir and inlet air flow on the humidifier performance are investigated. The results show that the outlet air relative humidity decreases (about 6% - 11%) with an increase in the inlet air flow rate from 1 m³ h⁻¹ to 3 m³ h⁻¹ at four different water temperatures. The increase in the water temperature and water level inside the reservoir lead to the better humidifier performance. At the water temperature of 20^°C, increasing water level from 5 cm to 7.5 cm has a significant effect on humidifier performance but increasing water level from 7.5 cm to 15 cm does not offer any advantage.

KEYWORDS:

• Bubble humidifier
• dew point
• experimental setup
• PEMFC
• relative humidity