Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:14:25.414Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lattice Boltzmann Simulations of Water Transport from the Gas Diffusion Layer to the Gas Channel in PEFC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2015

Koji Moriyama  and
Takaji Inamuro
Koji Moriyama*
Affiliation:
Fundamental Research Center, Honda R&D Co. Ltd., Saitama 351-0193, Japan Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
Takaji Inamuro*
Affiliation:
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan Advanced Research Institute of Fluid Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
*
Corresponding author.Email:[email protected]
Email:[email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Water management is a key to ensuring high performance and durability of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC), and it is important to understand the behavior of liquid water in PEFC. In this study, the two-phase lattice Boltzmann method is applied to the simulations of water discharge from gas diffusion layers (GDL) to gas channels. The GDL is porous media composed of carbon fibers with hydrophobic treatment, and the gas channels are hydrophilic micro-scale ducts. In the simulations, arbitrarily generated porous materials are used as the structures of the GDL. We investigate the effects of solid surface wettabilities on water distribution in the gas channels and the GDL. Moreover, the results of X-ray computed tomography images in the operating PEFC are compared with the numerical simulations, and the mechanism of the water transport in PEFC is considered.

Keywords

76M2876T1076S0565D18Two-phase lattice Boltzmann methodpolymer electrolyte fuel cellX-ray CT imaginggas diffusion layer
Type
Research Article
Information
Communications in Computational Physics , Volume 9 , Issue 5 , May 2011 , pp. 1206 - 1218
Copyright
Copyright © Global Science Press Limited 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1]Koido, T., Furusawa, T., and Moriyama, K., An approach to modeling two-phase transport in the gas diffusion layer of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell, J. Power. Sources., 175 (2008), 127–136.Google Scholar
[2]Yang, X. G., Zhang, F. Y., Lubawy, A.L., and Wang, C. Y., Visualization of liquid water transport in a PEFC, Electrochem. Solid. State. Lett., 7(11) (2004), A408–A411.Google Scholar
[3]Zhang, F. Y., Yang, X. G., and Wang, C. Y., Liquid water removal from a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, J. Electrochem. Soc., 153(2) (2006), A225–A232.Google Scholar
[4]Schulz, V. P., Becker, J., Wiegmann, A., Mukherjee, P. P., and Wang, C. Y., Modeling of two-phase behavior inthe gas diffusion mediumof PEFCsin full morphology approach, J. Electrochem. Soc., 154 (2007), B419–B426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5]Niu, X. D., Munekata, T., Hyodo, S., and Suga, K., An investigation of water-gas transport process in the gas-diffusion-layer of a PEM fuel cell by a multiphase multiple-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann model, J. Power. Sources., 172 (2007), 542–552.Google Scholar
[6]Inamuro, T., Ogata, T., Tajima, S., and Konishi, N., A lattice Boltzmann method for incompressible two-phase flows with large density differences, J. Comput. Phys., 198 (2004), 628–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[7]He, X., Zou, Q., L. -S. Luo, and Dembo, M., Analytic solutions of simple flows and analysis of nonslip boundary conditions for the lattice Boltzmann BGK model, J. Stat. Phys., 87 (1997), 115–136.Google Scholar
[8]Briant, A. J., Paatzacos, P., and Yeomans, J. M., Lattice Boltzmann simulations of contact line motion in a liquid-gas system, Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London. A., 360 (2002), 485–495.Google Scholar
[9]Briant, A. J., Wagner, A. J., and Yeomans, J. M., Lattice Boltzmann simulations of contact line motion: I. liquid-gas systems, Phys. Rev. E., 69 (2004), 031602.Google ScholarPubMed
[10]Briant, A. J., and Yeomans, J. M., Lattice Boltzmann simulations of contact line motion: II. binary fluids, Phys. Rev. E., 69 (2004), 031603.Google Scholar
[11]Cahn, J. W., and Hilliard, J. E., Free energy of a nonuniform system I. interfacial free energy, J. Chem. Phys., 28 (1958), 258–267.Google Scholar
[12]Cahn, J. W., Critical point weting, J. Chem. Phys., (1977), 3667–3672.Google Scholar
[13]Kobayashi, K., Inamuro, T., and Ogino, F., Numerical simulation of advancing interface in a micro heterogeneous channel by the lattice Boltzmann method, J. Chem. Eng. Jpn., 39 (2006), 257–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[14]Moriyama, K., and Inamuro, T., Numerical simulations of water droplet transport in microchannels using the two-phase lattice Boltzmann method, Trans. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Eng. Ser. B., (2009), 09–0356.Google Scholar
[15]Hussey, D. S., Jacobson, D. L., Arif, M., Owejan, J. P., Gagliardo, J. J., and Trabold, T. A., Neutron imagings of the through-plane water distribution of an operating PEM fuel cell, J. Power. Sources., 172(1) (2007), 225–228.Google Scholar
[16]Teranishi, K., Tsushima, S., and Hirai, S., Analysis of water transport in PEFCs by magnetic resonance imaging measurement, J. Electrochem. Soc., 153 (2006), A664–668.Google Scholar
[17]Sinha, P. K., Halleck, P., and Wang, C. Y., Quantification of liquid water saturation in a PEM fuel cell diffusion medium using X-ray microtomography, Electrochem. Solid. State. Lett., 9 (2006), A344–348.Google Scholar
[18]Stock, S. R., Microtomography of materials, Int. Mater. Rev., 44 (1999), 141–169.Google Scholar
[19]Wildenschild, D., Hopmans, J. W., Vaz, C. M. P., Rivers, M. L., and Rikard, D., Using X-ray computed tomography in hydrology: systems, resolutions, and limitations, J. Hydrol., 267(3-4) (2002), 285–297.Google Scholar