A 3D SINGLE-PHASE NUMERICAL MODEL FOR A PEMFC STACK

A single-phase, three-dimensional mathematical model has been constructed and implemented to simulate the fluid flow, heat transfer, species transport, electrochemical reaction, and current density distributions in a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel Cell (PEMFC) stack with parallel-shaped channels. In this study, a complete PEMFC stack with 3 parallel single-cells including the membrane, gas diffusion layers (GDLs), catalyst layers, flow channels, and current collectors was taken into account. The reasonable numerical results show the detailed distributions of fluid flow and species concentrations in the channel and porous media, heat and current transports through the single cells in the stack. Furthermore, this successful modeling of a single-phase PEMFC stack would be a critical step to further develop a general two-phase PEMFC model that could investigate the water management and effects of liquid water on the performance of a fuel cell stack.