Optimized Flow Distribution for Enhancing Temperature Uniformity across an Open Cathode PEM Fuel Cell Stack

Abstract

The objective of this work is to develop a stable energy source based on renewable energy for powering an in-house developed unmanned robot. The major challenges are firstly to design a power source with higher energy density and secondly to develop a compact design (low volume and light weight stack) suitable for integrating with the in house robot platform. To overcome the aforementioned challenges, the study aims at designing an open cathode low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system to be coupled with a battery to serves as an efficient power source. The major part of the work involves the design of compact fuel cell system. In a fuel cell the serpentine flow channel is considered to optimal because it has the advantage of uniform flow distribution, but with higher pressure drop. Because of the higher pressure drop a pump is required to supply the oxidant for chemical reaction. But with lower pressure drop and fairly uniform flow distribution open cathode stack design is developed, that facilitates the use of blower which consumes less power. Also the overall system volume can be reduced with higher efficiency.