Numerical Modeling of Velocity and Temperature Distributions in a Bipolar Plate of PEM Electrolysis Cell with Greatly Improved Flow Uniformity

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

11-13-2010

Publication Title

Proceedings of the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition

Publisher

ASME

Volume

6

First page number:

595

Last page number:

601

Abstract

In this present work, finite volume method was used to simulate the three-dimensional water flow and heat transfer in a flow field plate of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis cell. The standard k-εmodel together with standard wall function method was used to model three-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer. First, numerical simulations were performed for a basic bipolar plate and it was found that the flow distribution inside the channels in not uniform. The design of the basic bipolar plate has been changed to a new model, which is featured with multiple inlets and multiple outlets. Numerical results show that the flow and temperature distributions for the new design become much homogeneous.

Keywords

Fluid dynamics; Heat – Transmission; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Disciplines

Energy Systems | Fluid Dynamics | Heat Transfer, Combustion | Mechanical Engineering | Thermodynamics

Language

English

Comments

Conference held: Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA, November 13–19, 2009

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