COMPUTER SIMULATION OF ACTIVE LAYER FUEL CELL WITH POLYMER ELECTROLYTE: HOW DEGREE FILLING OF SUPPORT GRAIN BY WATER INFLUENCES ON OVERALL CURRENT

In the cathode active layer of a fuel cell with a solid polymer electrolyte, process of current generation takes place in support grains. The speed of this process essentially depends on a degree of support grains pores filling with water. Calculations show that the overall current value in the cathode active layer with the pores of support grains completely filled with water are much less than with pores partially filled or even without water. The last variant is realized when the rate of moisture evaporation from the pores of the support grains exceeds the rate of flooding them in the current generation process. In order to increase the overall current, a degree of heating-up of the cathode active layer is necessary to increase.  It is desirable that the temperature of the active layer T_s as much as possible exceed the temperature T, which the fuel cell operates. In this study by method of computer simulation, a specific example of determining the overall current value in the cathode active layer is presented. It is shown that if the pores of support grains are completely filled with water, then overall current I = 0.223 A/cm², and if the pores of the support grains are filled with water only about 10 percent then I = 1.151 A/cm².

 

cathode of fuel cell with polymer electrolyte (PEMFC), active layer, computer simulation, process flooding and draining in support grains, the warming of active layer, calculation of overall currents

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