Abstract
Water management is very important in the development of the PEFC with high performance and high reliability. The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for utilizing the generated water to humidify the polymer membrane actively. We have developed a humidity control porous rib system. The rib is made of a humidity control material, for example, a diatomite. We consider it is possible to reuse condensed water at the outlet side for humidifying the inlet air by switching the inlet and the outlet of the gas. In this study, experimental and numerical examinations were carried out to understand the effect of the humidity control porous rib on the water behavior and the cell performance of the PEFC.
