A new modified-serpentine flow field for application in high temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell

Debanand Singdeo, Tapobrata Dey, Shrihari Gaikwad, Søren Juhl Andreasen, Prakash C. Ghosh*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

40 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Flow field design for the distribution of reactants and products on the electrode surface plays an important role in the overall performance of the fuel cell. It acts as a crucial factor when the laboratory scale fuel cell is scaled up for commercial applications. In the present work, a novel flow field design is proposed and its usefulness for the fuel cell applications are evaluated in a high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell. The proposed geometry retains some of the features of serpentine flow field such as multiple bends, while modifications are made in its in-plane flow path to achieve comparatively uniform reactant and product distribution. A three-dimensional CFD model is developed to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed flow field. An HT-PEFC is fabricated and experimented with the proposed flow field for experimental validation. Furthermore, a low-cost current distribution mapping device is developed to validate the current density distribution on the electrode obtained from the CFD model. It exhibits a mismatch of 4% in the spatial distribution of current density between the modelling and experimental results. The proposed design is capable of achieving higher uniformity in current distribution across the active area (0.998 for modified serpentine and 0.96 serpentine) compared to serpentine flow field. This aids in boosting the current density of the cell by 27% at 0.57 V operations.
Original languageEnglish
JournalApplied Energy
Volume195
Pages (from-to)13-22
Number of pages10
ISSN0306-2619
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2017

Keywords

  • CFD modelling
  • Current density distribution mapping
  • Flow field
  • High-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell

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