The water management is a critical problem to overcome in the PEM fuel cell technology. Models play an important role in fuel cell development since they enable the understanding of the influence of different parameters on the cell performance allowing a systematic simulation, design and optimization of fuel cells systems. In this work, a model previously developed and validated, is used to pre...

In this study cross section geometry and material of gasket in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells have been investigated to achieve optimized fuel cell in terms of energy efficiency. The role of gaskets in fuel cells is sealing of gas flow channels and preventing from combination of them. In a PEM stack, gasket with approved geometry that suffers more stress has better sealing. For this ...

Title of Document: MODEL DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF PALLADIUM-BASED MEMBRANES FOR HYDROGEN SEPARATION IN PEM FUEL CELL SYSTEMS Atul Bhargav, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Directed By: Dr. Gregory S. Jackson, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Selective Pd-based membranes can extract near pure H2 from hydrocarbon reformate gases in liquid-fueled standalone proton exchange ...

The performance of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell is mainly influenced by ohmic, activation, and concentration overpotentials. Ohmic overpotential is directly proportional to electric resistance in the fuel cell components that can be estimated from the experimental data or from the empirical relation for the cell polarization curve. However, such simple relation is not available ...

The fuel cells are considered as one of the most promising devices for standalone/grid connected distributed generations (DGs) due to its cleanliness, modularity and higher potential capability. The barriers in the widespread use of fuel cells are their slow response for sudden load changes and higher installation cost. In this paper a simulation study of dynamic behavior of Nexa 1.2kW PEM fuel...

Understanding the thermal effects is critical in optimizing the performance and durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). A PEMFC produces a similar amount of waste heat to its electric power output and tolerates only a small deviation in temperature from its design point. These stringent thermal requirements present a significant heat transfer challenge. The heat balance also...

The aim of this paper is the evaluation of the performance of a low pressure PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell stack to step load changes, which are characteristic of standalone fuel cell system applications. The goal is a better understanding of the electrical behavior of the FC (fuel cell), as a result of the electrochemical processes, via the cell’s voltage characteristic during trans...

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In this review, recent works on the preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in hydrogen rich gases for fuel cell applications are summarized. H2 is used as a fuel for polymer-electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). It is produced by reforming of natural gas or liquid fuels followed by water gas shift reaction. The produced gas consists of H2, CO, and CO2. In which CO content is around 1%, whi...

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are highly efficient power generators, being used recently in a clean hybrid power supply system. Comsol Multiphysics, a commercial solver based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) was used for developing a three dimensional model of a high temperature PEMFC in order to study operation mode and performance of the fuel cell. Cathode gas flow velocity in...