PARAMETRIC STUDY OF A SINGLE CELL PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL FOR A BUNDLE OF STRAIGHT GAS CHANNELS

Abstract

In this analysis, a single cell proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell model was constructed in a three dimensional coordinate system. The effects of operating pressure and mass flow rate of the cathode and anode gases on the fuel cell characteristics were investigated parametrically. Besides, the mass fraction of water at the cathode side and the mass fraction of hydrogen at the anode side were selected as investigation parameters and their effects were presented on the polarization curves. The model was tested at the atmospheric pressure based on an experimental result existing in the literature. It was observed that the current density had not been sensitive to any changes in the mass flow rate of the anode gases unlike the cathode gases’. It was also observed that there were current limitations which were more dominant over the water rather than the hydrogen.

Keywords

• PEM fuel cell
• straight gas channels
• polarization curve
• parametric study

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