Entrance Effects on the Flow Distribution in Manifold of Commercial-Size Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Stacks

The air flow distribution in the manifold is critical to the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stacks. In this study, a CFD model is employed to study the entrance effects on the flow distribution in manifold of a PEMFC stack. A novel experiment setup is developed, which based on a 200-cell PEMFC stack with thin stamped bipolar plates and an active area of 250 cm2. The air flow distribution in manifolds with different inlet pipe diameters are measured by experiments to validate the CFD model. Various inlet pipe diameters are considered in the CFD model. The results show that the inlet pipe diameter has great effects on the flow distribution in the manifold of commercial-size PEMFC stack, and a judicial matching of the inlet pipe diameter and manifold size can provide the ideal uniform flow distribution.