Study on the performance and characteristics of fuel cell coupling cathode channel with cooling channel

Water flooding in the cathode channel of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), which reduce the current density output and affect fuel cell lifetime. Hence, to suppress water flooding, a novel channel is proposed in this study, that is to perforate hole between the cooling channel and cathode channel. A 3D numerical model is used to investigate the influence of the parameters including the hole's dimension, position, numbers, the operation conditions of the PEMFC and the slope angle (0) of the incline cooling channel. The numerical results indicate that the optimal single hole parameters are 0.4 mm long, 0.5 mm wide and 20 mm position, which can maximum the current density output of the PEMFC. Increasing the hole numbers for novel channels can improve water removal. In addition, in comparison with the conventional channel with 0 = 0.20 degrees at 1.8 cathode stoichiometry, the H5 (novel channel with five holes) with 0 = 0.20 degrees decreases by 43.10% in the maximum water saturation of cathode channel, while increases by 12.54% in current density output. What's more, all the novel channel structure research hardly raises the pressure drop of channels. (c) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A novel channel design is proposed in this study to mitigate water flooding in the cathode channel of PEMFC, optimizing hole parameters and numbers to maximize current density output. Compared to conventional channels, the novel design shows improvement in water saturation and current density output in the cathode channel, with minimal increase in pressure drop.