Capillaries for water management in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. (29th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cho, J.I.S.; Neville, T.P.; Trogadas, P.; Bailey, J.; Shearing, P.; Brett, D.J.L.; Coppens, M.-O.
• Is Part Of: International journal of hydrogen energy. Volume 43:Number 48(2018)
• Page Start: 21949
• Page End: 21958
• Publication Date: 2018-11-29
• Subjects: Fuel cell -- Water management -- Capillary -- Laser drilling -- Wicking -- Flooding; Hydrogen as fuel -- Periodicals; Hydrogène (Combustible) -- Périodiques; Hydrogen as fuel; Periodicals; 665.81
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.10.030
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-3199

Abstract

Abstract: Some of the new liquid water management systems in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells hold great potential in providing flood-free performance and internal humidification. However, current water management systems entail major setbacks, which either inhibit implementation into state-of-the-art architectures, such as stamped metal flow-fields, or restrict their application to certain channel configurations. Here, a novel water management strategy is presented that uses capillary arrays to control liquid water in PEMFCs. These capillaries are laser-drilled into the land of the flow-fields and allow direct removal (wicking) or supply of water (evaporation), depending on the local demand across the electrode. For a 6.25 cm 2 active area parallel flow-field, a ∼92% improvement in maximum power density from capillary integration was demonstrated. The proposed mechanism serves as a simple and effective means of achieving robust and reliable fuel cell operation, without incurring additional parasitic losses due to the high pressure drop associated with conventional serpentine flow-fields. Highlights: New capillary-based water management strategy is presented for PEM fuel cells. The capillaries allow redistribution of liquid water across the electrode. Parallel flow-field modified with capillaries outperforms serpentine flow-field.