The Effect of Obstacle Number, Shape and Blockage Degree in Flow Field of PEMFC on its Performance

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has received extensive attention as it is the most common hydrogen energy utilization device. This research not only investigated the effect of obstacle number and shape on PEMFC performance, but also studied the effect of the blockage degree in the channel of PEMFC on its performance. It was found that compared with traditional scheme, longitudinally distributed obstacles scheme can significantly promote reactants transfer to catalyst layer, and the blockage degree in the channel effect PEMFC performance most. The scheme with 10 rectangular obstacles in single channel and 60% channel blockage had the best output performance and the most uniform distribution of reactants and products. Obstacle height distribution can significantly affect PEMFC performance, the blockage degree in the whole basin was large, particularly as the channel was blocked to higher degree in region 2 and region 3, higher net power density and better mass transfer effect can be obtained. Among them, the fuel cell with the blockage degree of 40%, 60% and 60% in region 1, region 2 and region 3 have the best PEMFC output performance and mass transfer, the net power density was 29.8% higher than that of traditional scheme.