NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF CURRENT DISTRIBUTION IN A SINGLE CELL OK PEMFC

摘要

Understanding of current and temperature distributions along with variation of gas composition in the cell of PEMFC is crucial for designing the cell components such as separator and membrane-electrode assembly. A numerical analysis was performed to predict the variations of several parameters such as temperature, current, gas composition and pressure in the single cell. In addition, current distribution in the single cell was experimentally measured by using the especially constructed single cell composed of 81 compartments. Each compartment was electronically insulating from neighbor compartment. Current flowing through the each compartment was measured by using Hall effect sensor. From the comparison of numerical results with experimental ones, changes in temperature, composition and pressure of feed gas along the channel of the separator was discussed in terms of the rate of electrochemical reaction.