Numerical simulation on the complex flow mechanism for PEMFC's porous electrode

Abstract

The integrated 3-D percolation model is proposed for the study of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The method of finite element is employed to numerical simulate of the model and study the transport phenomenon within the cell. Several physical and chemical processes such as fluid flow, heat transfer, electrochemical kinetics and multi-component delivery are taken into consideration. The whole cell structure, consisting of bipolar plates, gas flow channel, diffusion layer, catalyst layer and proton exchange membrane are studied in the model. The different nature of the layer structure is reflected by corresponding physical parameters; therefore, by solving transport equations and coupled electrochemical dynamic equations, the concentration distribution of reactants within cell is acquired. Furthermore, after analyzing the internal mechanism of this distribution and its impacts on cell performance, the optimizing and higher efficiency design can be realized for the PEMFC by refer to this paper. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.