THE INFLUENCE ON PERFORMANCE OF A PEM FUEL CELL
WITH CO - FLOW AND COUNTER - FLOW CHANNELS

Elena Carcadea, Mihai Varlam, Ioan Stefanescu,
Vasile Stanciu, Roxana Elena Ionete, Laurentiu Patularu

National Research Institute for Isotopic & Cryogenic Technologies, Rm.Valcea, Romania
Street Uzinei no.4; O.P Râureni; P.O.Box 7, Rm.Vâlcea, Code 240050, Romania; e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ABSTRACT

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model of a PEM fuel cell with serpentine flow field channels that encounter co-flow and counter-flow configuration is presented in this paper. We consider that the PEM fuel cell performance is significantly influenced by the flow direction of fuel and oxidant. Starting from this point, the CFD model, used in this paper, accounts for the major transport phenomena that occur in a PEM fuel cell with co-flow and counter-flow configuration in order to will highlight the influence of flow tupe on the convective and diffusive heat and mass transfer,on  the electrode kinetics and on the potential fields.