A Three-Dimensional Model for Evaluating the Performance of Tubular-Shaped PEM by CFD Simulation

The CFD simulation of a tubular-shaped proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell in the patterns co-current flow for evaluation of the effects of different influencing parameters on fuel cell performance is presented. The model considers transport phenomena in a fuel cell involving mass and momentum transfer, electrode kinetics, and potential fields. The governing equations coupled with the CFD model are then solved using the finite element method. The predicted cell potentials are in good agreement with the available experimental data. The parametric studies have been conducted to characterize the effects of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) porosity and length, the inlet velocity of gases, and the hydrogen channel diameter on various cell performance parameters such as the concentration of reactants/products and cell current densities. The effect of the length and diameter of the channel on cell current density and the optimum gas diffusion layer porosity at a given hydrogen channel diameter to obtain the maximum current density is determined. In this work, a systematic procedure to optimize PEM fuel cell gas channels in the systems bipolar plates with the aim of globally optimizing the overall system net power performance was carried out.