Heat Transfer Performance Evaluation of PEMFC With Diamond-Shaped Staggered Cooling Channel

Abstract The fossil fuel depletion and environmental pollution are global challenges. Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements on earth. Recently, scientists and researchers are investigating water splitting to produce oxy-hydrogen for internal combustion engines. Several studies have been published where hydrogen was used to generate electricity. The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is an alternative energy resource for future electric vehicles. The reaction of PEMFC includes hydrogen molecules splitting as hydrogen ions and electrons on the anode whereas proton meet with oxygen and electrons and form water and release heat on the cathode. There are several processes involved in heat generation in PEMFC such as resistance in current flow, entropic heat reaction, and irreversibility of the electrochemical reactions. The generated heat in PEMFC is removed through cooling channels. The heat transfer rate depends on thermal properties. The design of the such as polymer electrolyte membrane, catalyst layer, gas diffusion layer, and electrodes have different thermal properties which influence heat transfer. Proper thermal management is critical part of PEMFC operation. Because the efficiency of PEMFC depends on heat loss in-between critical range. In this study, a numerical approach is used to investigate heat transfer performance of a (PEMFC) cooling channel. The heat transfer rate, convective heat transfer coefficient, temperature distribution and pressure drop were evaluated in this work. All these results were carried out on, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 0.8 and 1 kg/s of mass flow rate of coolant in the PEMFC cooling channel. Ansys Fluent is used for the numerical investigation. The diamond shape extended staggered pattern cooling channel were used in fuel cell for distributed flow. In this study, 2mm transverse pitch whereas 1mm, 1.5 mm and 2 mm longitudinal pitch with diamond shape extended in PEMFC cooling channel are used. However, design of experiments method was used to sort optimum results. The results reveal the extended staggered cooling channel improve heat transfer performance, 2mm and 1.5 mm transverse and longitudinal pitch respectively gave better heat transfer results and slightly higher pressure drops than 2mm pitch. Turbulence kinetic increases with decreasing transverse pitch and flow distribution improved with longitudinal pitch.