Operational and structural aspects of a vapor-feed semi-passive direct methanol fuel cell supplied with concentrated methanol  

作　　者：Wei Yuan Yong Tang Zhaochun Zhang Bo Zhou Jun Deng 

机构地区：[1]Key Laboratory of Surface Functional Structure Manufacturing of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South ChinaUniversity of Technology

出　　处：《Chinese Science Bulletin》2014年第25期3216-3221,共6页

基　　金：supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (S2013040016899);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2013ZM0003);the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51275180);the Open Fund of Shanghai Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacture for Thin-walled Structures (2013001)

摘　　要：Direct methanol fuel cell(DMFC)has great potential to replace the traditional battery in the field of portable power sources.This study investigates the operational and structural aspects of a vapor-feed semi-passive DMFC supplied with concentrated methanol.The effectiveness of using vaporous methanol to improve the cell performance is experimentally validated.Results indicate that there exits an optimal value of methanol concentration that favors both methanol supply and control of methanol crossover(MCO).With the increase in vaporization temperature,the cell performance can be enhanced.Based on the traditional structural design,a sintered porous metal plate is further used to depress the impact of MCO so that the cell performance can be significantly improved at a relatively higher methanol concentration.This is of great importance to enhance the energy density and operating duration for portable applications.The mechanisms related to the performance behaviors are discussed in detail.Direct methanol fuel cell （DMFC） has great potential to replace the traditional battery in the field of portable power sources. This study investigates the operational and structural aspects of a vapor-feed semi-passive DMFC supplied with concentrated methanol. The effec tiveness of using vaporous methanol to improve the cell performance is experimentally validated. Results indicate that there exits an optimal value of methanol concentration that favors both methanol supply and control of methanol crossover （MCO）. With the increase in vaporization temperature, the cell performance can be enhanced. Based on the traditional structural design, a sintered porous metal plate is further used to depress the impact of MCO so that the cell performance can be significantly improved at a relatively higher methanol concentration. This is of great importance to enhance the energy density and operating duration for portable applications. The mechanisms related to the performance behaviors are discussed in detail.

关 键 词：直接甲醇燃料电池 结构设计 电池性能 业务 醇提 无源 DMFC 甲醇浓度 

分 类 号：TM911.4[电气工程—电力电子与电力传动] TU318[建筑科学—结构工程]