质子交换膜燃料电流道淹没与传质强化

在地面常重力环境下,采用透明电池可视化方法研究了质子交换膜燃料电池阳极和阴极的流道淹没现象。分别研究了阳极和阴极反应物流量对电池内部传质和电池性能的影响。结果表明,电池阴极的淹没区域比阳极大,由电极淹没引起的气体传质受限和电化学反应受限主要发生在阴极。提高反应物流量能够强化气体传质并提高电池性能,并且提高电池阴极侧反应物流量比提高阳极侧反应物流量对提高电池性能更有效。本文工作为进一步开展微重力环境中的燃料电池实验提供了比较依据。

WATER FLOODING AND MASS TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT IN FLOW CHANNELS OF PEMFCs

At the normal gravity environment, the water flooding both in the anode and cathode flow channels of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) were visually studied by means of a transparent fuel cell. The effect of flow rates at anode and cathode flow channels on mass transfer and cell performance were respectively studied. The results show that: the flooding area in the cathode flow field is much more than the flooding area in the anode flow field, and the limit of mass transfer and electrochemical reaction due to the flooding at cathode side is dominant. The results also indicate that increasing the gas flow rates can enhance the mass transfer in fuel cell and improve the cell performance, and it is more beneficial to enhance the mass transfer of the cathode flow field than the anode flow field to improve cell performance. This work can provide the homologous results for the two-phase flow in PEMFCs flow channels in micro-gravity environment.