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Investigation the Effect of Different Pattern of Bi-Polar Plates on PEM Fuel Cells Performance

Karimi Moghaddam, Giti | 2009

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 39884 (46)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Energy Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Roshandel, Ramin; Saboohi, Yadollah
  7. Abstract:
  8. Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell performance is directly related to the flow channel design on bipolar plates. Power gains can be found by varying the type, size, or arrangement of channels. It has been understood that the flow field design has a deterministic role on mass transport and water management, and thus great efforts have been made for the optimal design of flow field such that high and stable cell performance can be achieved. This study concentrates on the improvement in the performance of PEM fuel cells through optimization of the channel dimensions and patterns in the velocity and pressure fields in bipolar plates. For design and optimization purposes, a 2D numerical simulation of the flow distribution based on the Nervier-Stokes equations using individual computer code has been done. The basic plate topology has been selected in some way representative of different design models commonly used. The outcome of the numerical simulations showed excellent agreement with the experimental results in previous works. Finally numerical simulation has been conducted to investigate the advantages of conventional patterns with inspiration from leaf flow pattern. The main design philosophy is based on the determination of an appropriate pressure drop, uniform pressure and velocity distribution along the flow channels so that it was found that both velocity and pressure fields are very uniform in the suggested new channel patterns, and it can be expected to produce a very homogeneous distribution of reactants over the catalyst layer
  9. Keywords:
  10. Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM)Fuel Cell ; Bipolar Plates ; Modeling ; Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) ; Polarization Curve ; Channel Flow

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