Design and optimization of water drop curve baffles in high temperature PEMFC channel

The operating temperature of high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFC) exceeds 120 °C. The strategic addition of baffles in the HT-PEMFC flow channel can facilitate the diffusion of reactant gases towards the gas diffusion layer (GDL), increase the reaction area of the catalytic layer, improve the reaction rate, and enhance overall performance. The water drops curve baffle proposed in this study exhibits a more optimal curvature profile for gas flow compared to previous baffle designs. In this study, the optimal quantity, inlet and outlet orientations, and size parameters of the water drop curve baffles were examined by combining three-dimensional simulation modeling with genetic algorithm optimization. A comparison of net power density for configurations ranging from zero to four baffles in the HT-PEMFC demonstrated that the configuration with four baffles achieved superior performance, resulting in a net power density of 0.368 W/cm², which represents a 5.74% increase compared to the basic channel without baffles. Additionally, it was observed that reverse flow incurs an additional pressure drop of 1.12% compared to forward flow. Following optimization, with the variables set to a = 0.730123 and b = 0.317671, the net power density increased to 0.3759 W/cm², reflecting a 2.17% improvement over the non-optimized state, thereby achieving the optimal performance level for HT-PEMFC.