Numerical and Experimental Study of Three-Dimensional Fluid Flow in the Bipolar Plate of a PEM Electrolysis Cell

Authors

J. H. Nie, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Yi-Tung Chen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Steve Cohen, Distributed Energy Systems
Blake D. Carter, Distributed Energy Systems
Robert F. Boehm, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2009

Publication Title

International Journal of Thermal Sciences

Volume

48

Issue

10

First page number:

1914

Last page number:

1922

Abstract

The bipolar plate is one of the key components in proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis cell stacks for hydrogen production. Bipolar plates of electrolysis cells must be properly designed to distribute reactant (water) evenly, and efficient PEM electrolysis cell stacks will require optimized bipolar plates. Numerical simulations and experimental measurements of three-dimensional water flow were performed for the purpose of examining pressure and velocity distributions in the bipolar plate of a PEM electrolysis cell. For the studied flow range, the computed pressure drops agree very favorably with the measurements. Results show that pressure decreases from the inlet tube to the exit tube along the diagonal direction. Both velocity and temperature distributions are very non-uniform in the channels. A minimum of the peak values of mainstream velocity component in the channels develops in the center of the test plate. The maximum of these peak values appears in the channel near the exit tube. For the studied flow levels, these lines along which the mainstream velocity component is a peak in the channel almost overlay with each other, except that minor difference can be noticed in the channel near the exit tube.

Keywords

Bipolar plate; Fluid dynamics; Hydrogen as fuel; Hydrogen production; Proton exchange membrane (PEM); Proton exchange membrane fuel cells; Water – Electrolysis

Disciplines

Energy Systems | Mechanical Engineering | Oil, Gas, and Energy

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Nie, J. H., Chen, Y., Cohen, S., Carter, B. D., Boehm, R. F. (2009). Numerical and Experimental Study of Three-Dimensional Fluid Flow in the Bipolar Plate of a PEM Electrolysis Cell. International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 48(10), 1914-1922.