Impact of Separator Thickness on Temperature Distribution in Single Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Based on 1D Heat Transfer

It is known from the New Energy and Industry Technology Development Organization (NEDO) roam map Japan, 2017 that the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) power generation system is required to operate at 100°C for application of mobility usage from 2020 to 2025. This study aims to clarify the effect of separator thickness on the distribution of the temperature of reaction surface (Treact) at the initial temperature of cell (Tini) with flow rate, relative humidity (RH) of supply gases as well as RH of air surrounding cell of PEFC. The distribution of Treact is estimated by means of the heat transfer model considering the H2O vapor transfer proposed by the authors. The relationship between the standard deviation of Treact-Tini and total voltage obtained in the experiment is also investigated. We can know the effect of the flow rate of supply gas as well as RH of air surrounding cell of PEFC on the distribution of Treact-Tini is not significant. It is observed the wider distribution of Treact-Tini provides the reduction in power generation performance irrespective of separator thickness. In the case of separator thickness of 1.0 mm, the standard deviation of Treact-Tini has smaller distribution range and the total voltage shows a larger variation compared to the other cases.

Impact Analysis of MPL on a PEFC Cell’s Temperature Distribution with Thin PEM and GDL for Operating at Higher Temperature than Usual

According to the New Energy and Industry Technology Development Organization(NEDO)road map 2017 of Japan,polymer electrolyte fuel cell(PEFC)system is required to be operated at 90°C and 100°C for stationary and mobility applications,respectively.However,the general PEFC,which has Nafion membrane is operated within the temperature range between 60°C and 80°C.It is important to understand the temperature distribution in a PEFC cell for analyzing performance on working life span of PEFC.This study focuses on the combination of thin polymer electrolyte membrane(PEM)and thin gas diffusion layer(GDL)to improve power generation performance under relatively higher temperature operation conditions.In addition,this study also focuses on effect of micro porous layer(MPL),which can promote the mass transfer,over temperature distribution.The key aim of this study is to analyze impact of MPL of temperature distribution on the reaction surface(Treact)of a cell of PEFC using thin PEM and GDL with variations of H2 and O2 supply flow rates and their relative humidity(RH)with changing the initial operating temperature(Tini)from 80°C to 100°C.As a result,the distribution of Treact without MPL,for anode and cathode at 80%RH and Tini at 80°C and 90°C,is higher than normal conditions.There is a small difference in temperature distribution among different RH conditions with MPL.The distributions of Treact are relatively flat and almost the same among different RH conditions without MPL at Tini=100°C,while the distributions of Treact with MPL are almost the same among different RH conditions.This study is revealed that more even temperature distribution and higher power generation performance can be obtained in the case without MPL compared to the case with MPL.