Investigations of flow field designs in direct methanol fuel cell
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- 作者：Guo-Bin Jung ; Cheng-Hsin Tu ; Pei-Hung Chi ; Ay Su ; Fang-Bor Weng ; Yur-Tsai Lin ; Yu-Chun Chiang ; Chi-Yuan Lee and Wei-Mon Yan
- 关键词：Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) ; Flow field ; Stagnation zone ; Pressure drop
- 刊名：Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry
- 出版年：2009
- 出版时间：September, 2009
- 年：2009
- 卷：13
- 期：9
- 页码：1455-1465
- 全文大小：547.4 KB
文摘
An experimental and simulation research had been performed to investigate the performance as well as the flow distribution in the cathode flow field in the case of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The gas was well distributed in serpentine flow field, whereas stagnation of the gas was observed in parallel flow field. These would contribute to the cell performance greatly due to mass transfer effect when the cells start operating. In addition, the durability test of DMFC was drastically affected in parallel flow field due to poor ability to drain flooded water produced electrochemically at cathode and crossover from anode. In addition, pressure drops of different flow fields were also investigated to evaluate their contribution and feasibility as an economic application for DMFC. DMFC with serpentine flow field featuring higher pressure difference resulted in a larger parasitic energy demand. However, the optimal flow field designs are needed to balance the performance and pressure loss to achieve a uniform fluid distribution and simultaneously minimize energy demand for mass transport. Consequently, flow field with grid pattern appears to be the optimal design for the DMFC cathode.