Multi-objective Optimization Of Microfluidic Fuel Cell

Microfluidic fuel cells operate in the laminar flow regime, thus their fuel utilization is low. A trade off exists between fuel utilization and output power density.To achieve high output power density and fuel utilization simultaneously, several parameters should be optimized. We have used a multi-objective optimizationmethod to optimize an air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell. Optimization algorithm is rather fast and accurate. An electrochemical model for microfluidic fuel cell inMATLAB environment is developed and validated. By coupling this model with multi-objective optimization algorithm the multi-objective optimization problem is defined. Genetic algorithm is used to solve this multiobjective optimization problem. This study shows that atrade-off exists between all of the output power density and fuel utilization values, also they indicate that during optimization design variables hit bounds. Due to the constraint imposed on the fuel cell design parameters, an maximum output power density 7 mWcm-2 Was achieved.

Keywords:

Microfluidic fuel cell , Laminar flow , Multiobjective optimization , Fuel utilization , Power density