Experimental evaluation of divergent parallel flow field effect on the proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are promising for clean energy generation, where the design of the flow channels is crucial for uniform reactant distribution on the catalyst surface. This study involves designing a divergent parallel flow field and comparing its performance with a single serpentine flow channel. The findings indicate that the divergent parallel flow field enhances peak power density by 23% compared to the serpentine flow field under same operating conditions. A parametric study was conducted on the divergent parallel flow channel, varying cell temperature, anode humidification temperature (AHT), cathode humidification temperature (CHT), anode flow rate (AFR), cathode flow rate (CFR), and operating pressure (OP). The optimized conditions found are a cell operating temperature (COT) of 70 °C, AHT of 70 °C, CHT of 60 °C, AFR of 300 sccm, CFR of 350 sccm, and OP of 3 bar. The PEMFC delivered a MPD of 0.5408 W·cm² at these optimized conditions. The results show the potential of the divergent parallel flow field design for greatly improved PEMFC performance.