Computational Fluid Dynamics Study of a Compound Flow Field for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Performance Enhancement

The aim of the present work is to evaluate proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell performance with a modified serpentine flow field with right angle turn by numerical modeling. A 3-D PEM fuel cell model of size 50 cm2 active area is developed. A conventional serpentine flow field is modified and the same is considered for the supply of reactants. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based simulations were conducted to analyse the pressure drop, distribution of reactants (H2 and O2), liquid water activity, current flux density and water content in the membrane. From the simulation results, polarization curve is drawn to validate the literature data of PEMFC with the conventional serpentine flow field. Comparison of simulated polarization curve with literature data revealed that modified serpentine flow field performance is better than conventional serpentine flow field as it offers better water exclusion and uniform sharing of reactants. From this study, it is concluded that model of flow field pattern influences the functioning of fuel cell and utmost care must take while selecting a pattern for flow field of PEM fuel cell.