Numerical Investigation of Water Droplet Flow in the Cathode Channel of a PEM Fuel Cell with Transversal Blocked Flow Channel

Document Type : Review

Authors

1 Professor Assistant, Research Institute for Development and Optimization of Energy Technologies, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, Tehran

2 MS, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Islamic Azad University, West Tehran Branch, Tehran

3 MS Student, School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran

Abstract

In this paper, the motion of water droplets inside a cathode gas channel of a polymer membrane fuel cell with transverse channel blocking is investigated numerically, biphasically, and two-dimensionally.24 different blocked geometries are studied and the effect of the different block length (Wr) and the position of the block across the channel (λ) upon velocity and pressure contours, the shape of streamlines and droplet deformation is investigated and droplet discharge time, instant pressure drop, mean pressure drop, and instant and mean water coverage ratio are calculated. The results show that the channel becomes blocked and clogged for some geometries and in other cases where the droplet crosses the barrier, the discharge time decreases and the instant and average pressure drop and water coverage ratio increase by placing the barrier. According to the obtained results, the greatest decrease in discharge time (if there is no restriction in pressure supply) is for Wr=1.66 and λ=0.3. Also, the lowest instant pressure drop and water coverage ratio occur for Wr=0.66 and λ=0.3.

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References

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