Nitrogen blanketing front equilibria in dead end anode fuel cell operation

Abstract

This paper investigates the equilibrium behavior during the dead-ended anode (DEA) operation of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell. A reduced order model is developed focusing on the species molar fraction in the anode channel. At equilibrium, hydrogen is present only in a partial region in the anode, and the remaining region is deactivated by the accumulation of water and nitrogen. Simulation results are analysed to study the influences of certain controllable inputs and system parameters on the nitrogen front location and steady-state cell voltage. The simulation results are consistent with the initial experimental observations. The results in this paper suggest that it is possible to coat only the active portion of the membrane, along the channel length, with catalyst.