Abstract
A numerical simulation study of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell was performed. The three-dimensional continuity, Navier-Stokes, energy and diffusion equations were discretized by the finite volume technique on the staggered mesh and solved by the SIMPLE algorism. The electrochemical reaction at the catalyst layer was considered in the calculation. Effects of flow rate configuration and arrangement of flow channels on current density distribution were discussed to optimize the fuel cell design with high-energy efficiency and high power density performance. Numerical simulation results show that the insufficient inlet gas flow rate induces low performance of fuel cell, especially, in the serpentine flow structure.
