THREE-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF TWO-PHASE FLOW AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE CELL PERFORMANCE OF PEMFC

Abstract

For a cathode duct of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell, a three-dimensional analysis method is further developed to include two-phase, multicomponent gas and heat transport processes. A set of momentum, heat transport, and gas species equations is solved for the whole duct by coupled source terms and variable thermophysical properties. The effects of the electrochemical reactions on the heat generation and mass consumption/generation are taken into account. The effects of liquid water on the local current density and cell performance are discussed by incorporating the Tafel formula and a liquid-phase saturation function. The numerical predictions are compared with experimental results, and good agreement is demonstrated between the present results and the measured ones in terms of polarization curve.

The National Fuel Cell Programme of the Swedish Energy Agency financially supports the current research project at Lund Institute of Technology (LTH), while the research work at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) has been financially supported by the Chinese national “863” key project for Electric Vehicle and a key project of the Chinese Academy of Science.

Notes

Address correspondence to Dr. Bengt Sundén, Division of Heat Transfer, Lund Institute of Technology, Box 118, S-22100, Lund, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]

The National Fuel Cell Programme of the Swedish Energy Agency financially supports the current research project at Lund Institute of Technology (LTH), while the research work at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) has been financially supported by the Chinese national “863” key project for Electric Vehicle and a key project of the Chinese Academy of Science.

Received 22 December 2003; accepted 23 April 2004.