INVESTIGATION OF TRANSPORT PHENOMENA IN  a 7-SERPENTINE CHANNEL PEM FUEL CELL

ELENA CARCADEA¹, H. ENE², D. B. INGHAM³, ROXANA ELENA IONETE¹, I. STEFANESCU¹, V. STANCIU¹, L. PATULARU¹

¹National R&D Institute for  Cryogenics & Isotopic Technologies,
Rm. Valcea,  Romania O.P.4; P.O.Box 10;Code 240050, Romania,e-mail: lili@ icsi.ro
 ²Romanian Academy of Sciences, Mathematical Institute, Bucharest, Romania 
         ³Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

ABSTRACT:
 
Channel geometry (path length, dimension, shape) has a tremendous impact on PEMFC performance. Distributions of the reactant species concentration in a PEM fuel cell due to fuel consumption and local transport of water through the membrane can cause changes in current density, temperature and water concentration. Water distribution can lead to flooding or drying of the membrane that may shorten the PEMFC componets life. Finding a flow field pattern that distribute the gas more evenly is one method in minimizing these problems and optimising the PEM fuel cell performance.The paper presents the results obtained for a 100cm² serpentine flow-field PEM fuel cell using Fluent software and Fuel Cell Module.
KEYWORDS: PEM fuel cell modeling, serpentine flow channel