Date of Award

4-2024

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Bade Shrestha Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Muralidhar Ghantasala Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Christopher Cho Ph.D.

Keywords

Ansys fluent, flow channel, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

In Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC), flow channel plays an important role on the performance of the cell. This study mainly focuses on the simulation of flow channel under various conditions. A three-dimensional mode of PEMFC with 25cm2 of active area was employed to simulate the flow channel of PEMFC which has various designs. The flow channel designs such as single serpentine, bi-serpentine and tri-serpentine channels were investigated using ANSYS FLUENT software. Initially, the flow channel width of 2mm was examined. The obtained results were compared to the experimental data to validate the model. Then, the dimension of the flow channel width has been altered to 1mm and 3mm, simulated, and compared with 2mm flow channel width to determine which has the better performance. The pressure distribution, mass fraction of H2, velocity magnitude and cell Reynolds number were investigated along with the performances of fuel cells. The findings indicated that the tri serpentine flow channel design offers superior performance with power density of 0.6655 W/cm2 at 373K while the bi serpentine produced 0.604 W/cm2 and single serpentine flow channel yielded 0.5765 W/cm2 of power density. Additionally, the findings suggested that increasing the width of the flow channel in PEMFCs enhance the performance due to improved diffusion of reactant gases.

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