The influence of baffle geometry on mass transfer and performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells considering the compression of gas diffusion layer

摘要

In this paper, the effects of baffle geometric parameters on fuel cell performance and mass transfer are studied considering the geometric deformation of the gas diffusion layer and the changes in porosity and permeability caused by the assembly force of the stack. The parameters include the windward part length, the middle section length, the leeward part length, the height and the number. We find that changing the windward or leeward part length of baffles will not impact the net power density significantly; short leeward part will produce bimodal streamlines and relatively more power; the baffle height close to blockage is undesirable. In addition, we observe that the trapezoidal baffles can not improve the net power density and the distribution uniformity of the physical quantities inside the fuel cell at the same time.