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Effect of time‐varying humidity on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells
Author(s) -
Noorani Shamsuddin,
Shamim Tariq
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.2920
Subject(s) - humidity , electrolyte , isothermal process , membrane , proton exchange membrane fuel cell , water vapor , polymer , materials science , ionomer , chemical engineering , thermodynamics , fuel cells , chemistry , mechanics , composite material , engineering , electrode , organic chemistry , physics , biochemistry , copolymer
SUMMARY This paper presents a computational investigation of the effect of time‐varying humidity conditions on a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. The objective is to develop a better fundamental understanding of the fuel cell's performance under actual driving conditions. Such an understanding will be beneficial in improving the fuel cell design for mobile applications. The study employs a macroscopic single‐fuel cell‐based, one‐dimensional, isothermal model. The novelty of the model is that it does not rely on the non‐physical assumption of the uptake curve equilibrium between the pore vapor and ionomer water in the catalyst layers. Instead, the transition between the two phases is modeled as a finite‐rate equilibration process. The modulating conditions are simulated by forcing the temporal variations in reactant humidity. The results show that reactant humidity modulations cause a departure in the cell behavior from its steady behavior, and the finite‐rate equilibration between the catalyst vapor and liquid water can be a factor in determining the cell response. The cell response is also affected by the modulating frequency and amplitude. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.