Analysis of fuel supply in zigzag-type DMFC with channels by three-dimensional simulation

The power consumption of portable devices such as smartphones and notebook PCs has increased in recent years with advances in their performance. Therefore, a power supply with a higher energy density is required for these devices. Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) have a theoretical energy density that is ten or more times greater than that of the current lithium ion batteries, which makes them candidate power sources for such devices. However, the configuration of a plurality of cells in current DMFCs is too complex. We have previously proposed a zigzag-type structure to simplify the manufacturing process for DMFCs. In this study, a semi-active fuel supply for the zigzag type DMFC is used in an attempt to improve the output characteristics. A simulation model was produced using experimental results measured in previous studies to characterize the DMFC with a semi-active fuel supply.