CFD ANALYSIS OF A TWO-PHASE FLOW MODEL FOR A LOW TEMPERATURE PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL

To understand heat and water management phenomena better within an operational proton exchange membrane fuel cell's (PEMFC) conditions, a three-dimensional, two-phase flow model has been developed and simulated for a complete PEMFC. Both liquid and gas phases are considered in the model by taking into account the gas flow, diffusion, charge transfer, change of phase, electro-osmosis, and electrochemical reactions to understand the overall dynamic behaviors of species within an operating PEMFC. The model is solved numerically under different parametric conditions in terms of water management issues in order to improve cell performance. In this paper, mostly cathode side results of a complete PEMFC are presented. The results obtained from two-phase flow model simulations show improvement in cell performance as well as water management under PEMFCs operational conditions as compared to the results of a single phase flow model available in the literature. The quantitative information obtained from the two-phase model simulation results will help to open up a route in designing improvement of PEMFC for better operational efficiency and performance.