Fuel Cell Stack Cooling
Application ID: 105191
This tutorial models the thermal management of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack. Operating the stack with a similar temperature profile for all cells is important since an uneven temperature distribution may otherwise result in nonuniform water vapor condensation and a large cell-to-cell variation in performance.
The stack consists of five cells, interlayered with bipolar plates that carry the liquid cooling fluid. The model solves for the temperature, the electrode and electrolyte phase potentials, the mass transport of the reacting species in each separate gas compartment, and the fluid pressures and corresponding velocities in the gas and liquid flow compartments.
The flow channels of the bipolar plates are not resolved explicitly in the geometry. Instead anisotropic permeabilities are used define the fluid flow patterns inside the stack.
This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products:
however, additional products may be required to completely define and model it. Furthermore, this example may also be defined and modeled using components from the following product combinations:
The combination of COMSOL® products required to model your application depends on several factors and may include boundary conditions, material properties, physics interfaces, and part libraries. Particular functionality may be common to several products. To determine the right combination of products for your modeling needs, review the Specification Chart and make use of a free evaluation license. The COMSOL Sales and Support teams are available for answering any questions you may have regarding this.