Effect of Hydrogen Recirculation on the Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell with Dead Ended Mode

As the performance of PEMFC has been improved, the water and heat generated by reaction have increased so, the water and heat management of PEMFC is becoming more important. In this study, hydrogen recirculation was applied as the water management technique and the effect of recirculation flow rate, purge interval and duration on the performance of PEMFC was investigated. Anode pressure, fuel humidity and utilization, water discharge amount was measured to check the effect of purge conditions on performance. As the recirculation flow rate has increased, the performance of PEMFC became lower due to decrease of anode outlet pressure. According to the purge conditions, instantaneous voltage drop has occurred because of accumulated water. In frequent purge conditions, the performance of PEMFC gradually decreased due to fuel humidity control failure. Stable performance and high fuel utilization was achieved on this work by analyzing the effect of purge conditions.