A two-dimensional analytical model of PEMFC with dead-ended anode

ABSTRACT

When the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) works in the mode of dead-ended anode (DA), the water and the nitrogen in the cathode flow channel will diffuse, and accumulate, to the anode flow channel resulting in fuel starvation on the anode side as well as the performance degradation of PEMFC, which has an important impact on the durability and working state of PEMFC. Because the PEMFC performance is closely related to the cathode working parameters, in order to study the influence of the cathode working parameters on the performance of the PEMFC with DA, a two-dimensional analytical model of PEMFC with DA is established in this article, and the parameters in the model are corrected by experiments. The effects of humidity, stoichiometric ratio and working pressure of cathode gas on the performance of PEMFC with DA are studied by model and experiment, as well as the effects of these working parameters on the accumulation process and distribution of water vapor and nitrogen on the anode side, and the relative performance of PEMFC with DA under different cathode working parameters is obtained. This model is of great significance to guide the practical work of the PEMFC with DA.

KEYWORDS:

• Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)
• analytical model
• dead-ended anode (DA)
• performance prediction
• working parameters

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation of China [No. 51975445; No. 51575413] and the Wuhan Science and Technology Bureau in China [No. 2018010401011329] for funding this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China [51575413,51975445]; Wuhan Science and Technology Bureau in China [2018010401011329].