Normally closed electrostatic microvalve with pressure balance mechanism for portable fuel cell application. Part I: Design and simulation

This paper describes the design and simulation of an electrostatic microvalve which controls fuel in a portable direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) system. The microvalve adopted a novel pressure balance mechanism to achieve normally closed operation against pressurized fuel. We established a theoretical model and method to simulate the performance of the microvalve, and designed the microvalve which controls methanol with a supply pressure of 30 kPa at a driving voltage of 36 V. This specification matches a 5 W class DMFC underdevelopment. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.