Porous media is an essential part of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). In order to optimize fuel cell performance and reduce catalyst consumption, mass transport in fuel cells needs to be improved. Understanding and modelling of mass transport in porous media of fuel cell (e.g. gas diffusion layer (GDL), micro porous layer (MPL) etc.) requires a knowledge of transport properties like diffusivity, permeability and Knudsen diffusivity. Current research is focused on experimental measurement of transport properties of porous media. A counter-diffusion bridge (Wicke-Kallenbach setup) has been used to estimate permeability, Knudsen diffusivity and effective diffusivity of GDLs and MPLs. The obtained transport properties are used with the recent theoretical models of multicomponent mass transport to estimate transport in fuel cells. The experimental studies show that conventional effective approximations like Bruggeman correlations are highly overpredicting and do not fully account for all the frictional forces in porous media.
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ASME 2012 10th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology collocated with the ASME 2012 6th International Conference on Energy Sustainability
July 23–26, 2012
San Diego, California, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Advanced Energy Systems Division
- Solar Energy Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4482-3
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Characterization of Transport Properties in Porous Media of a PEM Fuel Cell
Lalit M. Pant,
Lalit M. Pant
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
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Sushanta K. Mitra,
Sushanta K. Mitra
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
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Marc Secanell
Marc Secanell
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
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Lalit M. Pant
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Sushanta K. Mitra
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Marc Secanell
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Paper No:
FuelCell2012-91149, pp. 361-366; 6 pages
Published Online:
July 23, 2013
Citation
Pant, LM, Mitra, SK, & Secanell, M. "Characterization of Transport Properties in Porous Media of a PEM Fuel Cell." Proceedings of the ASME 2012 10th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology collocated with the ASME 2012 6th International Conference on Energy Sustainability. ASME 2012 10th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology. San Diego, California, USA. July 23–26, 2012. pp. 361-366. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/FuelCell2012-91149
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