Non-isothermal hydrophobicity-dependent two-phase flow in the porous cathode gas diffusion layer of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell

M. Vynnycky, A. D. Gordon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this paper, we extend a recent one-dimensional isothermal steady-state generalized Darcy model for two-phase flow in the porous cathode gas diffusion layer of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, so as to include the effect of heat transfer. As for the isothermal case, we arrive at either a fixed- or free-boundary problem, depending on the main problem parameters: inlet temperature (Tin), inlet water saturation (sin), inlet relative humidity (RH), porous medium hydrophobicity and cathode overpotential (η). The inclusion of heat transfer is found to limit the range of values of η,Tin and RH over which two-phase flow can occur, as compared to that predicted by the isothermal model. The ensuing non-isothermal two-phase flow model equations are then computed numerically, with particular care being required for the treatment of an integrably singular inter-phase mass transfer term.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)123-146
Number of pages24
JournalJournal of Engineering Mathematics
Volume92
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2015

Keywords

  • Cathode
  • Gas diffusion layer
  • Heat transfer
  • Polymer electrolyte fuel cell
  • Two-phase flow

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