Thermal Simulation of Cooling Channels in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Fuel cells' heat dissipation and cooling is a vital part of PEMFC heat management. This paper used pure water as the coolant to control the temperature distribution inside fuel cells. Established cooling channel's geometrical model and simulated the temperature distribution in the steady state by using software SINDA/FLUINT. Then discusses the effects of cooling channels' branch quantity, diameter and coolant velocity on fuel cell internal temperature distribution, concludes that multi-branch, large diameter pipes and low-velocity coolant make PEMFC work at best conditions.