Journal of Renewable Energy and Environment

Journal of Renewable Energy and Environment

Design of Innovative Channel Geometrical Configuration and Its Effect on Species Distribution

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
Ashkan Torkavannejad 1
S. Mehdi Pesteei 1
Farzin Ramin 1
Nima Ahmadi 2
Hadi Shahmohammadi 3
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Urmia University of Technology,Urmia, Iran
3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Islamic Azad University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
10.30501/jree.2014.70053
Abstract
In this research, the impact of shoulder width and geometry of gas channel with different structures on proton exchange membrane (PEM) has been investigated using numerical method. 3D, non-isothermal was used with single straight channel geometrywhile maintaining the same boundary conditions and reaction area with addition of humidification for anode and cathode. Our study showed that an elliptical and circular channel cross-section gave higher current density as compared with conventional model. Moreover, the elliptical and circular channel configurations facilitated reactant transportation, caused more homogenous distribution of reactants andeffectively reduced mass transport loss, which lowered cathode overpotential of the cell which is the main cause of loss. Simulation of the three different channel geometries revealed that shoulder width has dominating effect on cell performance and leads to increase the value of Ohmicloss. The numerical model is validated against published experimental data and shows good agreement. Additional results with more detail are discussed and presented in the text.
Keywords
Channel Cross-Section
Fuel Cell Performance
PEM Fuel Cells
Single-Phase
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  • Receive Date 08 July 2013
  • Revise Date 26 November 2013
  • Accept Date 03 December 2013