基于神经元的PEMFC仿生流道性能模拟研究

SIMULATION STUDY OF BIONIC CHANNEL-INSPIRED OF PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL BASED ON NEURON

质子交换膜燃料电池的流道结构对反应气体的流动和压降等具有重要影响。受神经元结构启发,提出一种兼顾径向流道和仿生流道在压降和气体分布均匀性优点的新型仿生流道结构。通过COMSOL软件模拟研究该新型流道的分支数(2~9)对质子交换膜燃料电池的性能曲线、阴极氧浓度分布、水浓度分布及压降的影响。结果表明:增加流道分支数可提高质子交换膜燃料电池的输出性能,其中9分支流道的峰值功率密度最大,为0.32 W/cm^(2),相比于2分支流道增加了的146.15%;分支数的增加也会提高氧浓度分布的均匀性,阴极气体扩散层与催化层交界面处的平均氧浓度从0.44 mol/m^(3)提高到1.42 mol/m^(3),氧气不均匀度从2.13降低至0.90;分支数的增加也明显改善了弧形流道内的水浓度分布。此外,随着流道分支数从2增加到9,流道压降从38.57 Pa递减至4.47 Pa,质子交换膜燃料电池的输出功率从0.40 W递增到1.56 W。

The flow field design of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell has a significant influence on the flow and pressure drop of the reaction gas.Inspired by the structure of the neural cell,a novel bio-inspired flow channel design is proposed,which takes account of the advantages of radial and bionic flow channels in pressure drop and the uniformity of gas distribution.The COMSOL software is adopted to investigate the effects of the flow channels with different number of branches from 2 to 9 on the polarization curve,cathode oxygen concentration,water concentration distribution and pressure drop of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell.The results show that with the increase in the number of branches,the output performance of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell is gradually improved,and the maximum power density of the flow channel with 9 branches is 0.32 W/cm^(2),which is 146.15%higher than that of the flow channel with 2 branches.Increasing the number of branches also improves the uniformity of oxygen concentration distribution,the concentration of oxygen at the interface between the gas diffusion layer and the catalyst layer increases from 0.44 mol/m^(3) to 1.42 mol/m^(3),and the oxygen non-uniformity decreases from 2.13 to 0.90,respectively.The increase in the number of branches also improves the performance of water management in the curved channel.In addition,as the number of branches increase from 2 to 9,the pressure drop of the channel is reduced from 38.57 Pa to 4.47 Pa,and the output power of the cell increases from 0.40 W to 1.56 W.