Effect of induced cross flow on flow pattern and performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell

The cross flow in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) plays an important role in changing the transport pattern and performance. In this study, three-dimensional numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the effect of induced cross flow on the flow pattern and performance of a PEMFC with a previously proposed and experimentally studied novel parallel flow channel design. The numerical results indicate that the liquid water and oxygen become more evenly distributed in the catalyst layer (CL) as the pressure difference between the low-pressure and high-pressure flow channels increases. It has been found that, in the low-pressure channels, the cross flow drives a convective flow from the CL to the flow channel resulting in improved liquid water removal. The optimal net power output can be identified by controlling the back pressure on the high-pressure flow channels. The numerical results confirm that this novel parallel flow channel design is effective in improving PEMFC performance. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.