Title: Heat transfer enhancement in fuel cells with interdigitated flow field design

Authors: T. Zhou, H. Liu

Addresses: University of Miami, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA. University of Miami, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA

Abstract: The enhancement of heat transfer in fuel cells with interdigitated flow field design is studied using a 3-D fuel cell computational model. The computational results showed that in a fuel cell with interdigitated flow field design temperature is more evenly distributed, which leads to a lower maximum temperature. This allows a fuel cell to operate at a higher average current density and the power output can be increased without sacrificing the fuel cell|s durability. Furthermore, better thermal management can be achieved for fuel cells with intedigitated flow field.

Keywords: interdigitated flow field; modelling; PEM fuel cell.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2002.003222

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2002 Vol.2 No.2/3/4, pp.97 - 105

Published online: 19 Aug 2003 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article