One of the most important and effective hardware elements for improvement of efficiency and power density of proton exchange membrane fuel cells is the flow field plate. The design and the pattern of the flow field pl...One of the most important and effective hardware elements for improvement of efficiency and power density of proton exchange membrane fuel cells is the flow field plate. The design and the pattern of the flow field plate have a considerable effect on the effectiveness of mass transport as well as on the electrochemical reactions inside the cell. The configuration of the flow field plate aims at ensuring a low pressure-drop over all channels in the stack. In this work, a FPFFP （fractal parallel flow field plate）, with bio-inspired configuration by insertion of fractals in a classic PFFP （parallel flow field plate）, is proposed, increasing the flow area of the hydrogen at anode side without increasing the section＇s area of the flow field plate. By simulating was observed that, the use of channels in fractal shape can increase the hydrogen flow area without occuring pressure loss in the cell. The fluid dynamic behavior in the FPFFP at smaller scales was replicated in the same plate, with better advantage of the active area of the electrode. Increasing the hydrogen flow area without causing pressure loss could be a good tactic to increase the power density of fuel cells, and consequently improving the cell performance.展开更多
文摘One of the most important and effective hardware elements for improvement of efficiency and power density of proton exchange membrane fuel cells is the flow field plate. The design and the pattern of the flow field plate have a considerable effect on the effectiveness of mass transport as well as on the electrochemical reactions inside the cell. The configuration of the flow field plate aims at ensuring a low pressure-drop over all channels in the stack. In this work, a FPFFP （fractal parallel flow field plate）, with bio-inspired configuration by insertion of fractals in a classic PFFP （parallel flow field plate）, is proposed, increasing the flow area of the hydrogen at anode side without increasing the section＇s area of the flow field plate. By simulating was observed that, the use of channels in fractal shape can increase the hydrogen flow area without occuring pressure loss in the cell. The fluid dynamic behavior in the FPFFP at smaller scales was replicated in the same plate, with better advantage of the active area of the electrode. Increasing the hydrogen flow area without causing pressure loss could be a good tactic to increase the power density of fuel cells, and consequently improving the cell performance.
