Numerical Study on Water Distribution in Cathode Layers of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

In this paper, a two-dimensional, two-phase, isothermal model is presented to investigate the water transport characteristic in cathode side of a proton exchangemembrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with emphasis on exploring the water distribution in different layers of PEMFC. The liquid–gas two-phase mass transport in theporous cathode is formulated based on multi-fluid model in porous media. The governing equations are solved over a single computational domain, whichconsists of gas diffusion layer, and catalyst layer for cathode side. A parametric study is performed to examine the effects of the diffusion layer (DL)permeability and cathode current density on water distribution in cathode layers of PEMFC. Numericalresults elucidate that water distribution level is decreased in the cathode side by increasing the permeability of the cathode DL. Furthermore it showsthat water saturation level is increased in the cathode side as cathode current density increase.

Keywords:

PEMFC , modeling , two-phase