The focus of this paper is to study the flow crossover between two adjacent flow channels in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell with serpentine flow field design in bipolar plates. The effect of gas diffusion layer (GDL) deformation on the flow crossover due to the compression in a fuel cell assembly process is particularly investigated. A three-dimensional structural mechanics model is...

The paper presents a Supervision, Control, Data Acquisition and Simulation (SCADA & Simulator) system that allows for real-time training in the actual operation of a modular PEM fuel cell system. This SCADA & Simulator system consists of a free software tool that operates in real time and simulates real situations like failures and breakdowns in the system. This developed SCADA & Simulator syst...

The flow field of a bipolar plate distributes hydrogen and oxygen for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells and removes the produced water from the fuel cells. It greatly influences the performance of fuel cells, especially regarding reduction of mass transport loss. Flow fields with good reactant distribution capability reduce the mass transport loss, thus allowing higher power density...

In this paper, the sensor selection approach is investigated with the aim of using fewer sensors to provide reliable fuel cell diagnostic and prognostic results. The sensitivity of sensors is firstly calculated with a developed fuel cell model. With sensor sensitivities to different fuel cell failure modes, the available sensors can be ranked. A sensor selection algorithm is used in the analysi...

In this study, a novel multipurpose portable PEM fuel cell-solar-battery system was custom designed, constructed and laboratory tested, specially aims for applications in the rural areas remote from conventional electric power grid. We obtain encouraging results which show the applicability of such system for used as a multipurpose kit for portable applications. Our study shows that various pow...

The objective of this paper is to analyze the value of energy replacement in the context of demand response. Energy replacement is defined as the possibility of the consumer to choose the most convenient source for providing space heating to a smart building according to a dynamic electricity price. In the proposed setup, heat is provided by conventional electric radiators and a combined heat a...

the nafion 117 membrane was doped with sio2 particles by sol-gel reaction. the reaction conditions to minimize leaching were investigated by using full factorial design of experiment. the results from the full factorial analysis indicated that the lowest amount of leaching takes place at 60oc without addition of acid and swelling of membranes prior to the reaction. the membranes, prepared at op...

the present paper explores the impact of an on-board hydrogen harvesting system (fuel reformer) on the overall efficiency of a fuel-cell powered vehicle. various methods of hydrogen production for automotive applications have been discussed first. as the hydrogen production is one of the major challenges for application of proton exchange membrane (pem) fuel cells, especially in vehicular indus...

A photoassisted oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) through I(-)/I3(-) redox couple was investigated for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell cathode reaction. The I(-)/I3(-)-based liquid cathode was used to replace conventional oxygen cathode, and its discharge product I(-) was regenerated to I3(-) by photocatalytic oxidation with the participation of oxygen. This new and innovative approach m...