Effect of cross-flow on PEFC liquid-water distribution: An in-situ high-resolution neutron radiography study

JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES

卷:293

Article

Santamaria, Anthony D.¹  Becton, Maxwell K.²  Cooper, Nathanial J.²  Weber, Adam Z.³  Park, Jae Wan² 

[1] Western New England Univ, Dept Mech Engn, Springfield, MA 01119 USA

[2] Univ Calif Davis, Dept Mech & Aerosp Engn, Davis, CA 95616 USA

[3] Univ Calif Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, Environm Energy Technol Div, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

关键词: Fuel cells;    Neutron radiography;    Permeability;    Liquid-water saturation;    Gas-diffusion layer;    Cross-flow;    Breakthrough pressure;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jpowsour.2015.05.016

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Liquid-water management in polymer-electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) remains an area of ongoing research. To enhance water removal, certain flow-fields induce cross-flow, or flow through the gas-diffusion layer (GDL) via channel-to-channel pressure differences. While beneficial to water removal, cross-flow comes at the cost of higher pumping pressures and may lead to membrane dehydration and other deleterious issues. This paper examines the impact of cross-flow on component saturation levels as determined through in-plane high-resolution neutron radiography. Various humidities and operating conditions are examined, and the results demonstrate that cell saturation levels correlate strongly with the level of cross-flow rate, and lower GDL saturation levels are found to correlate with an increase in permeability at higher flow rates. Effective water removal is found to occur at channel-to-channel pressure gradients greater than the measured breakthrough pressure of the GDL, evidence that similar liquid-water transport mechanisms exist for under-land area transport as in transverse GDL flow. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free