초록 열기/닫기 버튼
In this paper, a three dimensional, mathematical model for the analysis of the mass transfer of fuel (H2) and oxidizer (O2) in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) with solid, porous bipolar plates was developed using a commercial computational fluid dynamics code, Fluent® 6.3.26 and a CAD system CATIA®. Simulations were carried out for various permeabilities from 10−6 m2 to 10−12 m2 in the porous ceramic materials of the bipolar plates. By using a porous medium with a low permeability in the bipolar plates, it was possible to attain a higher and well-distributed current density compared to cases with a permeability of zero due to enhancement of the reaction area accessible by gas reactants. However, with an increase of permeability in bipolar plates from 10−13 m2 to 10−9 m2, the average current density decreased from 0.8497 A/cm2 to 0.8073 A/ cm2 due to leakage of gas reactants. Consequently, an optimal permeability of bipolar plates was obtained as 4.51×10−9 m2 from the standpoints of leakage and distribution of gas reactants.
In this paper, a three dimensional, mathematical model for the analysis of the mass transfer of fuel (H2) and oxidizer (O2) in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) with solid, porous bipolar plates was developed using a commercial computational fluid dynamics code, Fluent® 6.3.26 and a CAD system CATIA®. Simulations were carried out for various permeabilities from 10−6 m2 to 10−12 m2 in the porous ceramic materials of the bipolar plates. By using a porous medium with a low permeability in the bipolar plates, it was possible to attain a higher and well-distributed current density compared to cases with a permeability of zero due to enhancement of the reaction area accessible by gas reactants. However, with an increase of permeability in bipolar plates from 10−13 m2 to 10−9 m2, the average current density decreased from 0.8497 A/cm2 to 0.8073 A/ cm2 due to leakage of gas reactants. Consequently, an optimal permeability of bipolar plates was obtained as 4.51×10−9 m2 from the standpoints of leakage and distribution of gas reactants.
