Influence of air flow rate on the performance of air cooled hydrogen fuel cell stack

doi:10.11949/0438-1157.20220272

Abstract

Abstract:

The air cooled hydrogen fuel cell adopts an open cathode, which has the characteristics of self-humidification, simple and portable system, etc. However, its performance is not as well as a water cooled fuel cell. It is necessary to reveal the relationship between temperature and water content in the air cooled fuel cell in order to increase the output power. An 800 W air cooled fuel cell stack assembled in the laboratory was tested and analyzed. The voltage-current curve, net power, mass and heat transfer characteristics of the stack under different air fan speeds were compared. The experimental results show that at low currents the low flow rate under slow fan speed can maintain high temperature in the stack to reduce the activation loss of the catalyst, so that the stack could achieve large net output power. While under high current conditions, low flow rate will lead to excessive temperature and decrease the consistency. The distribution of oxygen concentration, water content and temperature in the fuel cell are visualized by numerical method. It is indicated the ohmic loss caused by low water content is the key factor limiting the output power, and by increasing fan speed and increasing the air flow, a better cooling effect can be ensured, thereby increasing the content water volume, reducing ohmic losses.

Key words: fuel cell, heat transfer, mass transfer, heat and water management, numerical analysis

摘要：

空冷型氢燃料电池采用开放型阴极，具有自增湿、系统简单轻便等特点。为了揭示空气流量对输出性能的影响机制，对自组装的800 W空冷型燃料电池电堆进行了实验测试和数值分析，对比了不同空气风扇转速下电堆输出电压、净功率以及传质传热特性。结果表明：小电流条件下小空气流量可以保持电堆内较高的温度，减少活化损失，实现高净输出功率。然而，大电流条件下，小空气流量将导致电堆温度过高且分布不均匀。利用数值方法对组分和温度分布进行了可视化分析，结果表明低含水量引起的欧姆损失增加是限制输出功率的关键因素，通过提高风扇转速增加空气流量可以保证较好的冷却效果，从而提高含水量，减少欧姆损失。

关键词: 燃料电池, 传热, 传质, 水热管理, 数值分析

CLC Number:

TK 121

Lin WEI, Jian GUO, Zihao LIAO, Dafalla Ahmed Mohmed, Fangming JIANG. Influence of air flow rate on the performance of air cooled hydrogen fuel cell stack[J]. CIESC Journal, 2022, 73(7): 3222-3231.

魏琳, 郭剑, 廖梓豪, Dafalla Ahmed Mohmed, 蒋方明. 空气流量对空冷燃料电池电堆性能的影响研究[J]. 化工学报, 2022, 73(7): 3222-3231.

Figures/Tables 12

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of experimental setup

Fig.2 Assembled stack and results of pressure sensitive test

Table 1 Physical properties and working conditions

参数	数值
扩散层/催化层孔隙率ε	0.6/ 0.5^[29-30]
催化层膜相体积分数ε_m	0.2
扩散层/催化层渗透率K/m²	6.2×10^-12/ 6.2×10^-13[31]
H₂/O₂/水蒸气扩散系数D/(m²/s)	1.1×10^-4/ 3.2×10^-5/ 4.35×10^-5[32]
H₂/O₂/N₂/水蒸气黏度μ/(Pa·s)	9.88×10^-6/ 2.3×10^-5/ 2.01×10^-5/ 1.12×10^-5[33]
双极板/扩散层/催化层电导率σ/(S/m)	1.4×10⁶/ 300/ 300^{[31, 33]}
双极板/扩散层/催化层/质子交换膜热导率k/(W/(m·K))	16/ 1.7/ 0.27/ 0.16^{[14, 34]}
双极板/扩散层/催化层/质子交换膜热质量ρc_p /(kJ/(m³·K))	4000/ 230/ 580/ 2300^[33]
质子交换膜密度ρ_mem/(kg/m³)	1980^[29]
质子交换膜当量质量EW/(kg/mol)	1.0^[27]
环境温度/℃	28
H₂/空气进口绝对压力/MPa	0.15/ 0.1

Fig.3 Gas channel boundary pressure value selection and polarization curves of the fuel cell under different duty ratio

Fig.4 Stack voltage variation with current climbing under different duty ratio

Fig.5 Performance curves under different duty ratio

Fig.6 Relative power under different current loadings

Table 2 Fan power at different duty ratio

占空比/%	风扇功率/W
30	13.2
50	26.4
70	40.8
90	57.6

Fig.7 Variation of the average stack temperature with current climbing under different duty ratio

Fig.8 Temperature variation with current climbing at d=50%

Fig.9 Temperature standard deviation variation with current climbing under different duty ratio

Fig.10 Simulation results under different duty ratio

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