Numerical Investigation of Flow Distribution in PEMFC and Pemwe Stacks Considering Two-Phase Flow in the Stack Headers
Authors: Zuo Huiyan , Yang Qiu , Chuang Po-Ya Abel , Zhang Ruiming , Sui Pang-Chieh 
Published: August 2024

PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) and PEM water electrolyzer (PEMWE) stacks are assembled by connecting a series of unit cells. The stack headers are conduits formed by the ports of these unit cells; see Fig. 1(a). The flow field in the headers affects the flow uniformity of the stack, which significantly impacts the stack’s performance and lifespan. This study aims to investigate the fluid flows in the stack headers of PEMFC and PEMWE. A specific objective of this study is to understand how two-phase flow (liquid water and gases) in the headers would impact the flow distribution inside the stacks.
The present study investigates the flow inside a stack by two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) models, as shown in Figure 1(b) and (c) respectively. The 3D model was constructed with an inlet header and an outlet header with flow resistors in between to represent the unit cells.1,2 CFD simulations using ANSYS Fluent were performed over a 100-cell PEMFC stack based on the k-ε RNG turbulence model. The two-dimensional 100-cell PEMFC stack model was built with COMSOL Multiphysics and considers the diffusion and transport, proton and electron conduction, electrochemical reactions on the catalytic layer, and heat transfer in the unit cells. The flow distribution obtained from the 3D model was used as the boundary conditions for the 2D model to calculate the effects of flow distribution on the overall performance of the stack. It should be pointed out that in the 3D models of PEMFC and PEMWE headers, simulations using the volume of fluid (VOF) model to track the liquid water droplets in a PEMFC and bubbles in a PEMWE were carried out to gain insights into the impact of two-phase flow on stack header flow sharing.
The simulation results show the existence of unstable and highly transient turbulence within the PEMFC outlet header, as seen in Figs. 1(d) and 1(e). Jet flows from individual cells cause vortices inside the header, reducing the effective flow area. Liquid water accumulates on the inner wall of the header and is swept out by the cross-flow. In the dead-end region, liquid water undergoes helical motion under the influence of vortices, resulting in a longer residence time in the header and making it less prone to be expelled. This study parametrically investigated the effects of header size and air stoichiometry. As the cross-sectional area of the inlet header decreases from A=1,225 mm2 to A=857.5 mm2, the coefficient of mass flow variation within the stack increases, indicating a decrease in the uniformity of flow distribution inside the stack, as shown in Fig. 1(f). The air stoichiometry also affects the flow distribution inside the stack; as the air stoichiometry λ decreases from 2.2 to 1.4, the uniformity of gas distribution in the stack deteriorates significantly.
The methodology used in the present study provides a reference for the parameter design and operating conditions of PEMFC and PEMWE stacks. It helps to gain insights into the optimization of stack header design and energy management.

References

[1] M. Li, K. Duan, N. Djilali, P.C. Sui, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 44 (2019) 30306–30318.
[2] B. Chernyavsky, P.C. Sui, B.S. Jou, N. Djilali, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 36 (2011) 7136–7151.

Figure 1