Channel to rib width ratio effect on thermal performance of cooling plate in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

Abstract

Ensuring a homogeneous temperature distribution inside a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stack is crucial to fuel cell performance and durability, and cooling channels are responsible for this. In this study, a three-dimensional numerical investigation is performed on a channel to rib width ratio (CR) based on serpentine flow field design. The cooling performance of various designs having different CR values is considered and compared according to the temperature uniformity index, the temperature difference between the maximum and minimum temperature, average bottom temperature, and pressure drop between the inlet and outlet of the cooling channels. Results demonstrate that the average temperature, temperature uniformity index, temperature difference, and pressure drop decrease by about 5%, 40%, 37%, and 79%, respectively, when CR is increased from 0.33 to 3.00. More uniform temperature distribution and thus, better cooling performance is achieved for CR = 3.00, especially at low Reynolds numbers and high heat fluxes. Also, the lowest pressure drops are obtained when CR is 3.00 under all considered operating conditions.