Experimental Study of the New Design 2.5kW Dead-End H2 /O2 PEM Fuel Cell Stack with New Design to Improve Fuel Utilization

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Fuel Cell Technology Research Laboratory, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Feridonkenar, Iran

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells with a dead-ended anode and cathode achieve high hydrogen and oxygen utilization by a comparatively simple system. In this paper, a new design of proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack is presented. The basic concept of the proposed design is to divide the cells of the stack into several blocks by conducting the outlet gas of each stage to a separator and reentering to the next stage, thereby constructing a multistage anode and cathode. In this design, a higher gaseous flow rate is maintained at the outlet of higher than 85% of cells, even under dead-end conditions, and this results in a reduction of purge-gas emissions by hindering the accumulation of liquid water in the cells. The result shows that the dead-end mode condition has the same performance as an open-end mode. The stack power at the current density of 1200 mA/cm2 is 2.5kW and the voltage of all cells is bigger than 0.6V. This means that the stack can achieve to the power higher than 3kW, although all cells voltage is higher than the restriction voltage of 0.4V. Furthermore, the optimum time for opening and clothing of purge valve are 2 and 4s for anodic cells and 2 and 6s for cathodic cells.

Keywords

Main Subjects


[1] Z. Wan, J. Wan, J. Liu, Z. Tu, M. Pan, Z. Liu, W. Liu, Water recovery and air humidification by condensing the moisture in the outlet gas of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack, Applied Thermal Engineering, 42 (2012) 173-178.
[2] K. Li, G. Ye, J. Pan, H. Zhang, M. Pan, Self-assembled Nafion®/metal oxide nanoparticles hybrid proton exchange membranes, Journal of Membrane Science, 347(1-2) (2010) 26-31.
[3] S.-D. Oh, K.-Y. Kim, S.-B. Oh, H.-Y. Kwak, Optimal operation of a 1-kW PEMFC-based CHP system for residential applications, Applied Energy, 95 (2012) 93-101.
[4] W.R. Baumgartner, P. Parz, S. Fraser, E. Wallnöfer, V. Hacker, Polarization study of a PEMFC with four reference electrodes at hydrogen starvation conditions, Journal of Power Sources, 182(2) (2008) 413-421.
[5] N. Yousfi-Steiner, P. Moçotéguy, D. Candusso, D. Hissel, A review on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell catalyst degradation and starvation issues: Causes, consequences and diagnostic for mitigation, Journal of Power Sources, 194(1) (2009) 130-145.
[6] S. Zhang, X. Yuan, H. Wang, W. Mérida, H. Zhu, J. Shen, S. Wu, J. Zhang, A review of accelerated stress tests of MEA durability in PEM fuel cells, International journal of hydrogen energy, 34(1) (2009) 388-404.
[7] D. Liang, Q. Shen, M. Hou, Z. Shao, B. Yi, Study of the cell reversal process of large area proton exchange membrane fuel cells under fuel starvation, Journal of Power Sources, 194(2) (2009) 847-853.
[8] H. Li, Y. Tang, Z. Wang, Z. Shi, S. Wu, D. Song, J. Zhang, K. Fatih, J. Zhang, H. Wang, A review of water flooding issues in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell, Journal of Power Sources, 178(1) (2008) 103-117.
[9] Y. Hou, C. Shen, D. Hao, Y. Liu, H. Wang, A dynamic model for hydrogen consumption of fuel cell stacks considering the effects of hydrogen purge operation, Renewable Energy, 62 (2014) 672-678.
[10] Y.-S. Chen, C.-W. Yang, J.-Y. Lee, Implementation and evaluation for anode purging of a fuel cell based on nitrogen concentration, Applied Energy, 113 (2014) 1519-1524.
[11] B. Belvedere, M. Bianchi, A. Borghetti, A. De Pascale, M. Paolone, R. Vecci, Experimental analysis of a PEM fuel cell performance at variable load with anodic exhaust management optimization, international journal of hydrogen energy, 38(1) (2013) 385-393.
[12] J.-J. Hwang, Effect of hydrogen delivery schemes on fuel cell efficiency, Journal of Power Sources, 239 (2013) 54-63.
[13] Y. Yang, X. Zhang, L. Guo, H. Liu, Overall and local effects of operating conditions in PEM fuel cells with dead-ended anode, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42(7) (2017) 4690-4698.
[14] J.-H. Jang, W.-M. Yan, H.-C. Chiu, J.-Y. Lui, Dynamic cell performance of kW-grade proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack with dead-ended anode, Applied Energy, 142 (2015) 108-114.
[15] I.-S. Han, J. Jeong, H.K. Shin, PEM fuel-cell stack design for improved fuel utilization, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 38(27) (2013) 11996-12006.
[16] I.-S. Han, B.-K. Kho, S. Cho, Development of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stack for an underwater vehicle, Journal of Power Sources, 304 (2016) 244-254.
[17] E. Alizadeh, M. Khorshidian, S.M. Rahgoshay, M. Saadat, S. Hossein, M. Rahimi-Esbo, Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for investigation of different losses in 4-cells short stack with integrated humidifier and water separator, Iranian Journal of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell, 3(2) (2016) 127-136.