| ANALYSIS OF FLOW VARIATION IN A STRAIGHT CHANNEL WITH
BAFFLED OBSTACLES ON A BIPOLAR PLATE IN A
PROTON-EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL |
| Dongjin Yu 1, Sangseok Yu 2 |
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chungnam National University
2School of Mechanical Engineering, Chungnam National University |
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| ABSTRACT |
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The channel structure of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is very important for sustaining high
performance with a reliable lifetime. There have been numerous computational studies to investigate the physics of
electrochemical reactions with various flow field phenomena. Because straight channels reduce manufacturing costs, a
straight channel was selected as the subject of a numerical study to investigate water removal and oxygen starvation in the
channel. In this study, the liquid saturation distribution caused by the baffled obstacle geometry of a PEMFC with channels
that were straight and parallel was analyzed in a computational study. Because baffled obstacles generate a vortex in the
channel, the flow field structure improves the supply of reactants. When the operating pressure is reduced from 3 atm to 1
atm, the baffled obstacle structure interrupts the flow of reactant and product water so that the accumulation of liquid water
increases from 0.75 to 0.86 in catalyst layer. As the number of baffled obstacles was increased from 13 to 19, the current
density improved from 0.772 to 0.773 A/cm2 in the reference condition. The baffled obstacle geometry also affects the liquid
water accumulation flow field. Results show that the design of the baffled obstacles in a channel should consider the number
of baffled obstacles along with the baffled obstacle geometry such that water removal is accelerated. |
| Key Words:
PEMFC, Baffled obstacle, Baffled obstacle geometry, Liquid water accumulation, Performance evaluation,
Pressure difference |
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Corresponding Author.
Sangseok Yu , Email. 
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