Influences of Co-Flow and Counter-Flow Modes of Reactant Flow Arrangement on a PEMFC at Start-Up  

作　　者：Qianqian Shao Min Wang Nuo Xu 

机构地区：[1]School of Petroleum Engineering,Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology,Maoming,525000,China [2]Mechanics Division,Beijing Computational Science Research Center,Beijing,100193,China

出　　处：《Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences》2024年第5期1337-1356,共20页工程与科学中的计算机建模（英文）

基　　金：supported by the Projects of Talents Recruitment of Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology(No.2018rc14);Maoming City Science and Technology Plan Project(Nos.210427094551264 and 220415004552411).

摘　　要：To investigate the influences of co-flowand counter-flowmodes of reactant flowarrangement on a proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC)during start-up,unsteady physical and mathematical models fully coupling the flow,heat,and electrochemical reactions in a PEMFC are established.The continuity equation and momentum equation are solved by handling pressure-velocity coupling using the SIMPLE algorithm.The electrochemical reaction rates in the catalyst layers(CLs)of the cathode and anode are calculated using the Butler-Volmer equation.The multiphase mixture model describes the multiphase transport process of gas mixtures and liquid water in the fuel cell.After validation,the influences of co-flow and counter-flow modes on the PEMFC performance are investigated,including the evolution of the current density,flow field,temperature field,and reactant concentration field during start-up,as well as the steady distribution of the current density,reactant concentration,andmembrane water content when the start-up stabilizes.Co-flow and counter-flow modes influence the current density distribution and temperature distribution.On the one hand,the co-flow mode accelerates the start-up process of the PEMFC and leads to a more evenly distributed current density than the counter-flow mode.On the other hand,the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet sections of the cell is up to 10.1℃ under the co-flow mode,much larger than the 5.0℃ observed in the counter-flow mode.Accordingly,the counter-flowmode results in a more evenly distributed temperature and a lower maximum temperature than the co-flow case.Therefore,in the flow field design of a PEMFC,the reactant flow arrangements can be considered to weigh between better heat management and higher current density distribution of the cell.

关 键 词：PEMFC full coupling model Butler-Volmer equation multiphase mixture model co-flow mode counter-flow mode 

分 类 号：TM911.4[电气工程—电力电子与电力传动]