Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Comprehensive Mass Transport Modeling Technique For The Cathode Side Of An Open-Cathode Direct Methanol Fuel Cell, Mohammad Biswas

Mohammad Biswas

Experimental And Computational Evaluation Of Water Management And Performance Of A Bio-Inspired Pem Fuel Cell In Comparison To A Conventional Flow Field, Venkatanaga Bhaskar Prakash Saripella

Masters Theses

"Fuel cells are being increasingly used in various stationary and transportation power applications due to their higher energy efficiency and lower pollution. Flow field design in Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells is a major area of research for performance improvement. Bio-inspired flow field designs have significant potential for increased performance by effective distribution of reactants with better water management capabilities. In this study, a bio-inspired flow field design, formulated using Murray's law and mimicking a typical leaf venation pattern, is experimentally and computationally investigated in comparison to a conventional single serpentine design. Experiments are conducted using a special transparent …

The Role Of Channel-Land Architecture, Diffusion Media Transport Properties, And Aging Effects On Water Transport And Storage In Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells, Jacob Michael Lamanna

Doctoral Dissertations

Thermally driven transport of water vapor in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, also known as the heat-pipe effect or phase-change-induced flow, can transport several times the generated amount of water given enough temperature differentials. Understanding this transport process is necessary to properly engineer the water balance in the fuel cell to ensure high performance and long operational life. Channel-land architecture, diffusion media heat and mass transport properties, and operational age can all have an influence on thermally driven flow. High resolution neutron imaging was used to determine the steady-state water accumulation in various cell configurations to understand the influence of these …

Water Transport In Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells: An Exploration Of Net Water Drag In Real Time, Susan Katherine Reid

Masters Theses

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are a promising alternative energy source. One challenge preventing widespread use of this technology is water management. A balance must be reached between providing sufficient water for membrane ionic conductivity while maintaining low enough water content to mitigate the reduction of available reaction sites in the cathode catalyst layer due to liquid water build up. Much exploration of this area of fuel cell research has been conducted, but the details of water transport in an operating fuel cell are not yet fully understood. The motivation of this work was to elucidate mass transport phenomena occurring …

Water Management Capabilities Of Bio-Inspired Flow Field Configurations For Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells, Nicholas Warren Freer

Masters Theses

"Fuel cells have received an increasing amount of attention over the past decade for their power production capabilities. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells in particular are researched because of their high power density, large range of operating conditions, green products, and ease of scalability. PEM fuel cells do have a number of issues that reduce their overall performance. These issues include variations in reactant distribution, materials issues for the bipolar plate, and flooding caused by poor water management. Variations in the reactant distribution causes lower overall power output due to regions of low reactant density. This means that optimizing …