EFFECT OF INDENTATIONS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF PEM FUEL CELL

Abstract

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is an electrochemical device that converts H<inf>2</inf> and O<inf>2</inf> to electricity. The performance of a fuel cell is influenced by the flow field of gas reactants and product distribution. In this work, the performance of a single channel PEMFC is numerically investigated through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The performance of a fuel cell is investigated for a wide range of operating conditions such as operating voltage, temperature, relative humidity, and geometric parameters such as membrane thickness. The predicted polarization, power density, contours of temperature, and fuel utilization are analysed to identify an optimum condition for the operation of PEMFC. To improve the performance of PEMFC, indentations (rectangular and shark fin) are proposed in the flow channel. This supports significantly enhancing the performance of PEMFC without using any conventional H<inf>2</inf> recirculation system. © 2023, Journal of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy. All Rights Reserved.