Uniform Distribution of Species in Fuel Cells using a Multiple Flow Bifurcation Design

Peiwen Li, Devasubramaniam Coopamah, Jeong Pill Ki

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper presents the results obtained from the study about flow distribution in maintaining uniformity of flow fields in fuel cells. Three novel flow distribution designs on bipolar plates are proposed for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The flow distributors have multiple levels of bifurcations to split a flow into sub-streams of equal flow rates. There are three types of bifurcation structure proposed and studied, which are the 900 tee-type, rounded-type and slanted-type. Experiments were carried out to test the velocities of flows from the multiple channels after bifurcations, and the flow uniformity on the bipolar plate is estimated and studied. Overall evaluation of flow uniformity in the three designs was conducted. The rounded-type bifurcation structure showed the best flow uniformity. After experimental verification of the uniform flow distribution in the novel design, three PEM fuel cell was fabricated which adopted the novel flow fields. From the experimental test and comparison under dry fuel and air condition, it is found that the PEMFC with new flow field can have a better performance. Thorough experimental investigation is planned for the future study.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationASME 2008 6th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology, FUELCELL 2008
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Pages897-902
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)0791843181, 9780791843185
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008
EventASME 2008 6th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology, FUELCELL 2008 - Denver, United States
Duration: Jun 16 2008Jun 18 2008

Publication series

NameASME 2008 6th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology, FUELCELL 2008

Conference

ConferenceASME 2008 6th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology, FUELCELL 2008
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityDenver
Period6/16/086/18/08

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Fuel Technology
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

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