Numerical Analysis on 64cm2 Active Area of PEM Fuel Cell

The performance of the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell depends on the operating and design parameters such as operating pressure, temperature, stoichiometric ratio of fuel and oxygen, relative humidity and rib width to channel width (R:C), the shape of the flow channel and the number of passes on the flow channel. In this work, the 3 Dimensional interdigitated flow channel of 64 cm² (8cm x 8cm) active area model has been created using Creo software and it has been analyzed using CFD fluent software. The power density has been calculated with the effect of design parameter like various rib to channel width ratio (R:C) 1:1, 1:2, 2:1 and 2:2 and the operating parameters like various operating temperature (313, 323 and 333), constant pressure of 2 bar and constant inlet reactant mass flow rate of the PEM fuel cell has been considered. The maximum numerical power densities of interdigitated flow channel with R:C -1:2 were found to be 0. 138 W/cm² at temperature of 323 K.