Effect of Flow Field Design on the Performance of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC)

Sunhoe Kim; Inkwon Hong

Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Vol.13, No.5, 864-869, September, 2007

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Effect of Flow Field Design on the Performance of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC)

Sunhoe Kim, and Inkwon Hong^{1, †}

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
¹Department of Chemical Engineering, Dankook University, Seoul 140-714, Korea

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Data are presented to show that the performance of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is influenced by the flow field design. Different kinds of flow field dimensions, characterized by the channel length and width, were used for this experiment. The flow field dimension is related to the pressure difference between the gas entrance and exit. The results of experiments using a 100 cm2 serpentine flow field indicated correlations between the fuel cell performance and the pressure difference, which facilitates fuel and oxidant diffusion from the channel to the electrode surface. The rib area reduces contact resistance, which influences the performance of a PEMFC. This flow field analysis is potentially attractive when designing fuel cell stacks.

Keywords:PEMFC;fuel cells;contact resistance;electric vehicle;flow field;pressure drop;channel design

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