Volume 48

Numerical simulation of collaboratively designed flow channel and gas diffusion layer structures for proton exchange membrane fuel cell Xiaojian Zhang1, Jiaojiao Song1, Chao Guan1, Yulin Wang

Abstract

For hydrogen polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the structure design of the bipolar plate (BP) and gas diffusion layer (GDL) greatly affects the water and gas transport and the performance of the PEMFC. Starting with the length and cross-section size of the flow channel (FCH), the thickness of the GDL, the average porosity and the degree of porosity gradient in the flow direction, this paper studies the effect of the collaborative matching optimization of the BP and GDL structure on the performance of the PEMFC. Firstly, five variables including average porosity, GDL thickness, porosity gradient degree, FCH cross-section and length are selected as matching factors (five-level numbers for each variable), and two performance parameters including maximum power density and pressure drop are used as performance evaluation indexes. Secondly, the orthogonal table is established by orthogonal experimental design. The range analysis and variance analysis are carried out on the Orthogonal test results after the data is obtained through simulation. Finally, the Entropy weighting method is used to evaluate the two performance evaluation indexes of 26 groups of data. The results show that Case 18 has the highest comprehensive evaluation index, with an evaluation index of 0.06055 and the base group is 0.04655. Compared to the base case, the maximum power density of case 18 is increased by 19.8%.

Keywords Bipolar plate, Gas diffusion layer, orthogonal experimental, Entropy weighting method, Cell performance