摘要
In the last decade,many researchers have focused on developing fuel-cell flow-field designs that homogeneously distribute reactants with an optimum pressure drop.Most of the previous studies are numerical simulations and the few experimental studies conducted have used very simple flow-field geometries due to the limitations of the conventional fabrication techniques.3D printing is an excellent rapid prototyping method for prototyping bipolar plates(BPPs)to perform experiments on new flow-field designs.The present research investigates the applicability of different 3D-printed BPPs for studying fluid-dynamic behaviour.State-of-the-art flow-field designs are fabricated using PolyJet 3D printing,stereolithographic apparatus(SLA)3D printing and laser-cutter technologies,and the pressure-drop and velocity profiles are measured for each plate.The results demonstrate that SLA BPPs have great promise in serving as a screening tool in modifying flow-field design with a small feature size.
基金
Financial support to the Collaborative Research and Development project‘PEM fuel cell architecture design’from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada(NSERC)and H2E Co.is gratefully acknowledged and appreciated.
