Invasion percolation with inlet multiple injections and the water management problem in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Liquid water transport in the diffusion porous layers of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) is analyzed as a process of quasi-static invasion from multiple interfacial injection sources. From pore network simulations based on a new version of the invasion percolation algorithm it is shown that a porous layer acts as a two-phase filter: the number of breakthrough points is significantly lower that the number of injection points owing to the merging of liquid paths within the porous layer. The number of breakthrough points at the gas diffusion layer/gas channel interface obtained with this model is consistent with the available experimental observations. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.