Numerical investigation on a novel zigzag-shaped flow channel design for cooling plates of PEM fuel cells

Abstract This paper concerns with numerical modeling of fluid flow through a zigzag-shaped channel to be used as the cooling plate for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. In general, large scale PEM fuel cells are cooled by liquid water flows through coolant flow channels, and the shape of these channels has a key role in the cooling performance. We perform a three-dimensional numerical simulation to obtain the flow field and heat transfer rate in square area cooling plates. The performance of zigzag flow channels is evaluated in terms of maximum surface temperature, temperature uniformity and pressure drop. The results indicate that in the zigzag channels model, maximum surface temperature, surface temperature difference and temperature uniformity index, respectively, reduce about 5%, 23%, and 8% with respect to straight channels model. Hence, the cooling performance of fuel cells can be improved by implementing the zigzag channels model as the coolant fluid distributors, although the coolant pressure drop is higher than straight channels in this model.