Pneumatic Clamping Mechanism for Improving the Contact Pressure Distribution over the Active Area of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Clamping mechanisms is one of the most important parts of the proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). It has significant effect on the contact pressure distribution over the active area of the PEMFC. In this paper the pneumatic clamping mechanism was utilized to study the contact pressure distribution over the active area. Th e end plate consists of two separate plates like a cylinder and a piston and the applied pressure exerted pneumatically to the fuel cell assembly. Th e comparison between the results of conventional bolts and nuts and pneumatically designed clamping mechanisms has been done using an experimental setup. Th e experimental results obtained from the use of the embedded pressure measurement films in the designed single setup. It was obviously concluded that the pressure distribution for the pneumatically designed clamping mechanism was more uniform than the conventional bolts and nuts clamping mechanisms. It is notable that by optimizing the pneumatically clamping mechanism it could be appropriate to produce uniform contact pressure particularly for the PEMFCs with large active areas.