Enhancement of the Reactant Distribution and Power Density of PEMFCs Using a Semicircular Trap Shape in the Flow-Field

Abstract

The performance enhancement of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is directly correlated with water flooding, which is based on the design and operational parameters of the flow field. Flooding affects reactant distributions; hence, effective water management is necessary for optimizing the performance of PEMFCs. The present study, investigated the performance of PEMFCs by introducing a novel semicircular trap shape in the flow field, and assessed the effect of increasing the number of traps and the size of the trap shape. The introduction of the trap shape in the flow field, reduces the land width at the location of the bipolar plate. This reduced land width increases the current density per unit of active area. Therefore, figuring out the perfect size and quantity of traps is essential to improving PEMFC efficacy. The results show that a channel with a single trap shape of 2.0 mm width and 1.0 mm height provide higher current density. The trap shapes improve reactant distribution, effective water management and enhance the power density. This novel trap shape can be implemented in a conventional channel providing an inexpensive solution to enhance PEMFC performance.