Simulation through CFD of different flow field designs for enhancing proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance

Abstract

The efficiency of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell, which is one of the promising energy-converting technologies, strongly depends on the design of the flow fields of such systems. The architecture of the fuel cell becomes an essential factor that ensures the adequate distribution of the gases and control of heat and water in the fuel cell. To understand the impact of the architecture of fuel cells on the efficiency of PEMFCs, a comprehensive computational model has been developed that considers four various geometries of channels with identical cross-section areas in the parallel flow field configuration. The objective of this research was to explore the impact of the channel geometry on the behavior of PEMFC concerning gas transport, heat transfer, and water balance. Notably, the square channel geometry outperformed the other designs, exhibiting a 17.20 % improvement in efficiency compared to the semi-circular channel also at 0.40 V, the maximum velocities in square, rectangular, semicircular, and triangular channels are 4.28618 m/s, 4.1856 m/s, 4.17292 m/s, and 4.78493 m/s, respectively. This is attributed to the more optimized flow profile and reduced parasitic losses in the square channel design.