performance characteristics of a pem fuel cell with parallel flow channels at different cathode relative humidity levelspem燃料电池的性能特征平行流渠道在不同阴极相对湿度水平.pdfVIP

Sensors 2009, 9, 9104-9121; doi:10.3390/ OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Performance Characteristics of a PEM Fuel Cell with Parallel Flow Channels at Different Cathode Relative Humidity Levels Pil Hyong Lee and Sang Soon Hwang * Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Incheon, Songdo Dong , Yeonsu-Ku, Incheon, Korea; E-Mail: meman80@incehon.ac.kr * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: hwang@incheon.ac.kr; Tel.: +82-32-770-8417; Fax +82-32-770-8410. Received: 26 August 2009; in revised form: 4 November 2009 / Accepted: 5 November 2009 / Published: 17 November 2009 Abstract: In fuel cells flow configuration and operating conditions such as cell temperature, humidity at each electrode and stoichiometric number are very crucial for improving performance. Too many flow channels could enhance the performance but result in high parasite loss. Therefore a trade-off between pressure drop and efficiency of a fuel cell should be considered for optimum design. This work focused on numerical simulation of the effects of operating conditions, especially cathode humidity, with simple micro parallel flow channels. It is known that the humidity at the cathode flow channel becomes very important for enhancing the ion conductivity of polymer membrane because fully humidified condition was normally set at anode. To investigate the effect of humidity on the perfo