Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Experimental And Analytical Study Of An Open Cathode Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell., Alex Martin Bates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis four different fuel cell designs were simulated with consideration for electrochemical effects, reactant species transport, and heat transfer. Simulation results include the mass fraction of hydrogen, oxygen, and water, temperature gradient, pressure gradient, and velocity profile. One of the fuel cell designs was experimentally tested using two different membrane electrolyte assemblies; one high performance and the other high durability. The polarization curve resulting from simulation compares well with the polarization curve produced by experimental work. A 16 cell fuel cell stack was simulated with consideration for stack compression. The same fuel cell stack was tested experimentally for …