CFD Analysis in the Mesh Modified Gas Diffusion Layer of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC)

Abstract

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software is well known for its application feasibility as well as reliable results in modeling electrochemical, thermal, and fluid transport processes. CFD has been used to investigate the phenomena involved in the operation of fuel cells, providing a large amount of data that must be analyzed to improve cell efficiency. This paper aims to demonstrate that programming can be used in the post-processing phase, using scripts in Python language to automate data analysis, based on the results of the simulation of oxygen transport in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). The OpenFOAM open-source CFD tool solved the fluid governing equations through the SIMPLE algorithm of three proposed Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) case studies. In this work, an algorithm is presented to extract, compute and visualize the post-process results, supporting the GDL selection.