Three Dimensional Computations and Experimental Comparisons for a Large-Scale Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Comprehensive experimental validation for a large-scale proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is performed in this work using the multiphase-mixture (M2) model on a 9.2 million grid-point computational mesh. The predicted fuel cell voltage, high-frequency resistance, as well as current density and temperature distributions all show good agreement with the extensive experimental data under various operating conditions and for two Pt loadings of 0.3 mg/cm(2) and 0.1 mg/cm(2). In particular, the present study demonstrates quantitative comparisons of liquid water distribution in the PEM fuel cell with neutron imaging measurements. Such a comprehensive validation against a range of measurements points to the readiness of applying the M2 model to design and develop the next generation of PEM fuel cells and stacks. (C) 2016 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.