ABSTRACT

Water management is the key to further improvement in the performance and durability of proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The flow field inside the bipolar plates has a major role in managing the flooding process. Biomimetic flow field designs have been capturing the attention of researchers for their promising characteristics including uniform flow distribution and low pressure drop. Therefore, this study investigates liquid water behaviors inside a leaf-like biomimetic flow field design based on Murray’s Law using at the cathode of a PEMFC. The investigation is conducted using a computational simulation method utilizing the commercial software Ansys Fluent, in which the volume of fluid method is implemented for the three-dimensional, two-phase, unsteady flow simulation with the application of a dynamic contact angle model. The results are the general water transport process, the velocity, and pressure distribution inside the leaf-like biomimetic flow field design based on Murray’s Law.

摘要

水管理是进一步提高质子电解质膜燃料电池 (PEMFC) 性能和耐久性的关键。双极板内部的流场在管理洪水过程中起着重要作用。仿生流场设计因其有前途的特性（包括均匀的流动分布和低压降）而引起了研究人员的注意。因此，本研究基于 Murray 定律，研究了在 PEMFC 阴极使用的叶状仿生流场设计中的液态水行为。调查是使用商业软件 Ansys Fluent 的计算模拟方法进行的，其中流体体积法是通过应用动态接触角模型对三维、两相、非定常流动模拟进行的。