Experimental study of the effect of flow field design to PEM fuel cells performance

Fuel cells are one of the most important sources of alternative energy in generating electricity with a wide range of applicability. One of the most prominent of the challenges that effect on the performance of the fuel cells is the designs of flow field plate which are responsible on distributing reactant gases evenly throughout the cell, removing excess water efficiently, and supplying a conduction route for the electrons from the external circuit. In this study, the effect of gas flow fields design on fuel cell performance investigated experimentally. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with 20 W (2.38 A x 8.4 V) were used. Where eight graphite plates with various flow field or flow channel designs (Parallel-Z flow field, Serpentine-Z flow field, Serpentine-2Z flow field, Serpentine-3Z flow field, Serpentine-S flow field, Serpentine-2S flow field, Serpentine-W flow field, and Novel serpentine- modified W flow field) were used for the PEM fuel cell assembly. From acquired results showed that Novel serpentine-modified W flow field design is superior compared with other proposed flow field designs in the current study. The reason of the modified Serpentine-W gives the better cell performance is that it extends over the entire surface, thus it generates a better and uniform distribution of the reactant gases. Therefore, an appropriate and uniform distribution of current over the electrode surface is produced, which increasing the pressure forces of the species to transfer during the sideways, resulting in more a uniform distribution of species through the (GDL).