Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology

The Korean Society of Marine Engineering (한국마린엔지니어링학회)
권호 표지

Dry-out conditions of free-breathing PEMFC with dry $H_2$ gas

자연급기 무가습 연료전지의 Dry-out조건

  • Published : 2006.03.01
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

This study investigates drying condition when a small fan is added to a operating the free-breathing proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with dry $H_2$ and Air. Polarization tests were conducted on PEMFCs at cell temperatures between 30 and $50^{\circ}C$ under dry operation. In the results, the cell performance strongly depended on the cell temperature and the cathode gas stoichiometric flow rates. The cell performance increases as cell temperature decreases from 50 to $30^{\circ}C$. In the domain where the stoichiometry of air is quite large, reduction of the concentration overpotential compensated the increased internal resistance due to drying. The maximum performance was obtained at the small air flow rate beyond which flooding occurs. This indicates that the fan should be operated in the stoichiometry domain with a well designed cell structure to avoid flooding.

Keywords

References

  1. Schmitz. A, Tranitz. M, Wagner. S, Hahn. R. and Hebling. C, 'Planar self-breathing fuel cells', Journal of Power Sources, 118, pp. 162-171, 2003 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-7753(03)00080-6
  2. Hottinen. T, Mikkola. M. and Lund. P, 'Evaluation of planar free-breathing polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell design', Journal of Power Sources, 129, pp. 68-72, 2004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2003.11.012
  3. Hottinen. T, Himanen. O. and Lund. P, 'Effect of cathode structure on planar free-breathing PEMFC', Journal of Power Sources, 138, pp. 205-210, 2004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2004.06.044
  4. Hottinen. T, Noponen. M, Mennola. T, Himanen. O, Mikkola. M. and Lund. P, 'Effect of ambient conditions on performance and current distribution of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell', Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, 33, pp. 265-271, 2003 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024184824662
  5. Noponen. M, Mennola. T, Mikkola. M., Hottinen. T. and Lund. P, 'Measurement of current distribution in a free-breathing PEMFC', Journal of Power Sources, 106, pp. 304-312, 2002 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-7753(01)01063-1
  6. Sang Kyun P, Kazushige K, Ytaka T, Takemi C and Ykio H, 'Effect of cathode separator structures on performance characteristics of freebreathing PEMFCs', JSME, Vol 108, No 1045, pp. 2808-2815, 2005
  7. Minkmas V. W, H. Russell Kunz and James M. Fenton, 'Operation of Nafion-based PEM fuel cells with no external humidification : influence of operating conditions and gas diffusion layers', Journal of Power Sources, 135, pp. 122-134, 2004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2004.04.010
  8. B. Yang, Y.Z. Fu and Manthiram, 'Operation of thin Nafion-based self-humidifying membranes in proton exchange membrane fuel cells with dry H2 nad O2', Journal of Power Sources, 139, pp. 170-175, 2005 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2004.07.010