Visualization and measurement of dynamic water behavior in PEFC by neutron radiography

Hydrogen gas and air are supplied in saturated moist condition to keep a membrane wet in a PEFC. Condensation may occur in the cathode by the FC reaction, since air is saturated moist condition. The condensed water may affect on the fuel cell performance. It is very important for the design to know the water behaviors. In this study, in-situ visualization of an operating PEFC was carried by neutron radiography with the cell voltage measurements. A JARI standard cell was improved for the visualization with the same performance. Water distribution in the fuel cell could be quantitatively measured from visualized images via some image processing methods. The relationships between the water distributions and cell voltage fluctuations were clearly shown from the visualization and measurement results. The difference in water distribution for three types of gas supply channel was clearly shown.