Effect of Vibration on Open-Cathode Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Stack Performance

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of vibration frequency on the performance of a 10-cell open-cathode direct methanol fuel cell (OC-DMFC) stack. Experiments were conducted using three different vibration frequencies (15, 30, and 60 Hz) and compared against a baseline condition without vibration. Performance was evaluated under varying methanol–water fuel flow rates (1, 5, 25, and 50 mL·min−1) while maintaining constant operating conditions: methanol temperature at 70 °C, methanol concentration at 1 M, and cathode air flow velocity at 4.8 m·s−1. The optimal performance was observed at a fuel flow rate of 5 mL·min−1, where the maximum power density reached 26.05 mW·cm−2 under 15 Hz vibration—representing a 14% increase compared to the non-vibrated condition. These findings demonstrate that low-frequency vibration can enhance fuel cell performance by improving mass transport characteristics.