Title :
Numerical investigation of water droplet dynamics in a PEMFC microchannel
Author :
Qin, Yanzhou ; Du, Qing ; Yin, Yan ; Li, Xianguo
Author_Institution :
State Key Lab. of Engines, Tianjin Univ., Tianjin, China
Abstract :
The mobility of a water droplet inside a straight micro-channel of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been investigated through numerical simulation using volume of fluid (VOF) method to study the effects of surface wettabilities of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and flow channel as well as the gravity on water dynamic behavior. The results show that a combination of hydrophobic GDL surface with hydrophilic channel walls is beneficial to water discharging and gas transport through the channel. The gravity also has a significant effect on the water transport characteristics in the microchannel.
Keywords :
drops; hydrophilicity; hydrophobicity; microchannel flow; numerical analysis; proton exchange membrane fuel cells; wetting; PEMFC microchannel; flow channel; fluid method volume; gas diffusion layer; gas transport; hydrophilic channel wall; hydrophobic GDL surface; numerical simulation; proton exchange membrane fuel cell; surface wettability; water discharging; water droplet dynamics behavior; water droplet mobility; water transport characteristics; Cathodes; Fuel cells; Gravity; Manifolds; Microchannel; Protons; Water; PEM fuel cell; VOF model; water management; wettability;
Conference_Titel :
Remote Sensing, Environment and Transportation Engineering (RSETE), 2011 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Nanjing
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-9172-8
DOI :
10.1109/RSETE.2011.5965257
