Journal of the Korean Society of Mechanical Technology (한국기계기술학회지)

Korean Society of Mechanical Technology (한국기계기술학회)
권호 표지

Numerical Simulation on Interaction of Liquid Droplet-Wall Surface in a Gas Channel of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

PEMFC 가스채널 내의 액적-벽면 상호작용에 대한 수치모사

  • 김선우 (공주대학교 대학원 기계공학과) ;
  • 김우태 (공주대학교 기계자동차공학부)
  • Received : 2015.01.15
  • Accepted : 2015.02.03
  • Published : 2015.02.28
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Numerical simulations of liquid water droplets interacting with gas channel walls in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell are performed with the volume of fluid (VOF) method. To investigate the effect of channel wall wettability, the contact angles of gas diffusion layer (GDL) and the side/top walls are varied as 45, 90, and 140 degrees. Two different water injection inlet locations are selected to investigate the interactions of liquid water with the different gas channel walls. As the GDL contact angle increases, the GDL surface water coverage ratio and the water volume ratio decrease. When the water injection hole is located near the side wall, the GDL surface water coverage ratio decreases and the water volume ratio increases as the contact angle of the side and top walls decreases. In conclusion, the GDL surface water coverage ratio and the water volume ratio may compete with each other to determine the fuel cell performance.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : 한국에너지기술평가원(KETEP)

References

  1. E. H. Ryu and W. T. Kim, "Performance Analysis of PEMFC Depending on the Flow Direction of Reactant Gas in Cathode Gas Channel", Journal of the Korean Society of Mechanical Technology, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 97-102, 2013 https://doi.org/10.17958/ksmt.15.1.201302.97
  2. J. H. Jo and W. T. Kim, "Numerical Simulation of Liquid Droplet-Droplet Interaction in a PEMFC Gas Channel", Journal of the Korean Society of Mechanical Technology, Vol. 16, No. 6, pp. 2041-2046, 2014 https://doi.org/10.17958/ksmt.16.6.201412.2041
  3. K. Jiao and X. Li, "Water Transport in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells", Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 221-291, 2011 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecs.2010.06.002
  4. X. Zhu, P. C. Sui, and N. Djiali, "Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulations of Water Droplet Dynamics in a PEMFC Gas Channel", Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 181, No. 1, pp. 101-115, 2008 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2008.03.005
  5. B. Han, J. Yu, and H. Meng, "Lattice Boltzmann Simulations of Liquid Droplets Development and Interaction in a Gas Channel of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell", Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 202, pp. 175-183, 2012 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2011.11.071
  6. Y. Ding, H. T. Bi, and D. P. Wilkinson, "Three- Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Water Droplet Emerging from a Gas Diffusion Layer Surface in Micro-Channels", Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 195, No. 1, pp. 7278-7288, 2010 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2010.05.059
  7. M. Hossain, S. Z. Islam, A. Colley-Davies, and E. Adom, "Water Dynamics inside a Cathode Channel of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell", Renewable Energy, Vol. 50, pp. 763-779, 2013 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.08.041
  8. ANSYS Inc., ANSYS FLUENT User's Guide Release 14.0, 2012