49 A Two-Phase Non-Isothermal Mass Transport Model for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
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Published:2009
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A two-dimensional two-phase non-isothermal mass transport model for liquid feed direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) is presented in this paper. The heat and mass transfer across the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is formulated based on the classical multiphase flow theory in the porous media. The effects of methanol crossover and non-equilibrium evaporation∕condensation of methanol and water at the gas-liquid interface on the cell performance are considered. Results of this model show that the methanol feeding concentration and cell operation temperature have great effects on the cell performance. The distribution of cell temperature is non-uniform and the highest temperature appears in the cathode catalyst layer (CL). The effects of open-ratio of the flow field plate and the thermal conductivity of diffusion layers, catalyst layers and membrane are also investigated in this work.