본 연구에서는 비용매 유도 상분리와 소결 공정을 혼용하여 기체 및 액체에 대하여 슈퍼플럭스 거동을 보이는 니켈 모세관 지지체를 성공적으로 제조하였다. 니켈 모세관 전구체는 니켈, 폴리술폰, DMAC, PEG를 이용하여 도프용액을 제 조한 후 NIPS 공정에 의하여 제조된 후에, 다양한 소결온도에서 수소 분위기 조건에서 소결하여 니켈 모세관 지지체를 제조 하였다. 최적의 니켈 모세관 지지체는 950°C 소결온도에서 얻어졌는데 외경 722 μm, 내경 550 μm, 두께 94 μm이었다. 니켈 모세관 지지체 기공율은 26%, 평균 기공경은 4 μm이었으며 3차원으로 서로 연결된 기공구조를 갖고 있었다. 그리고 파괴하 중은 2.84 kgf, 파괴 연신율은 13%이었다. 니켈 모세관 지지체의 He, N2, O2, CO2에 대한 단일 기체 투과도는 상온에서 각각 432,327, 281,119, 264,259, 193,143 GPU로 슈퍼플럭스 거동을 보였다. 이는 3차원적으로 서로 연결된 4 μm 크기 마크로기 공을 통하여 viscous flow가 일어났기 때문에 나타나는 현상으로 설명되었다.

The volume of fluid method is used to investigate the behavior of a liquid water slug in a PEMFC trapezoidal gas channel(GC) with a open angle of 60 degrees. To evaluate the effect of the contact angle of the top and side walls, the gas diffusion layer water coverage ratio(GWCR) and water volume fraction(WVF) in a inspection control volume are analyzed. As the contact angle increases, GWCR increases and WVF decreases. The cases with the GC contact angle of 60 and 80 degrees show the more favorable water removal characteristics compared to the other cases in a GC flooding condition.

In a PEMFC gas channel with a trapezoidal cross-section, the effect of air and water inlet velocities on water removal characteristics is numerically studied via the volume of fluid(VOF) method. When the channel wall contact angle is 60 degrees, the air inlet velocities higher than 2.5 m/s are advantageous to obtain lower GDL surface water coverage ratio(WCR). The WCR increases as the wall contact angle increases to 90 or 120 degrees due to the relatively lower surface tension force. In overall, WCR decreases as the air inlet velocity increases and WCR increases as the water inlet velocity increases.

The water removal characteristics in a PEMFC trapezoidal gas channel are investigated with the volume of fluid (VOF) method. For the case of wall contact angle of 60 degree, liquid water attaches on the top wall and moves toward the exit. In contrast, liquid water moves along the channel side corner or GDL surface irregularly for the higher wall contact angles. The hydrophillic wall contact angle of 60 degrees provides more favorable diffusion of reactants to cathode reaction sites as the GDL surface water coverage ratio approaches zero even if the water flow rate increases.

The effect of PEMFC trapezoidal channel wall contact angle on water removal characteristics is investigated with the volume of fluid (VOF) method. Two different contact angles 60 and 90 degrees are selected. In the case of the side and top wall contact angle of 60 degrees, stable semi-spherical droplets move along the top wall slowly. In contrast, complex shaped droplets move along the lower edge in the case of 90 degrees. Moreover, it is shown that very complex interaction patterns between different droplets which introduced into the channel at different times.

The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to study the behavior of liquid droplet inside a PEMFC gas channel. To validate the fluid-fluid interaction model, the relationship between the pressure jump across the interface and the bubble radius is investigated for a static bubble to confirm the Laplace’s law. To evaluate the fluid-solid interaction model, static contact angle is calculated by changing the interaction parameter. Also, a constant gravitational force is applied to study the temporal evolution of liquid droplet placed on the bottom wall in a three dimensional periodic channel.

The volume of fluid method is applied to study the effects of the gas channel wall contact angle on the removal characteristics of a water slug in a right angle PEMFC gas channel. While maintaining the same GDL surface contact angle, two different contact angle distributions on the control area in the corner region are compared via the water coverage ratio and water volume fraction. The water coverage ratios of the hydrophobic channel corner case mainly show smaller values than that of the hydrophilic case except around 27 ms. The water volume fraction of the hydrophobic corner case is supposed to drop down quickly around 27 ms due to the dynamic movement of the liquid water compared to the hydrophilic case. In overall, the hydrophobic corner case shows better water slug removal characteristics.

The volume of fluid (VOF) method is applied to study the effects of the gas channel cross-section shape on the removal characteristics of a water slug in a trapezoidal PEMFC gas channel. Two different open angles 50 and 60 degrees are selected to investigate the effect of cross-section shape on the behavior of a liquid water slug. In comparison to the 50 degrees case, the water slug is removed slightly faster for the 60 degrees case.

To study the effects of the gas channel wall contact angle on the behavior of a liquid water slug, numerical simulations are performed with the volume of fluid (VOF) method. Two different contact angle combinations on the side and top channel walls are selected. In comparison to the reference case, the water slug is removed faster when the hydrophobic contact angle is applied selectively in the corner section.

Numerical simulations of liquid water droplets interacting with gas channel walls in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell are performed with the volume of fluid (VOF) method. To investigate the effect of channel wall wettability, the contact angles of gas diffusion layer (GDL) and the side/top walls are varied as 45, 90, and 140 degrees. Two different water injection inlet locations are selected to investigate the interactions of liquid water with the different gas channel walls. As the GDL contact angle increases, the GDL surface water coverage ratio and the water volume ratio decrease. When the water injection hole is located near the side wall, the GDL surface water coverage ratio decreases and the water volume ratio increases as the contact angle of the side and top walls decreases. In conclusion, the GDL surface water coverage ratio and the water volume ratio may compete with each other to determine the fuel cell performance.

The dynamic interaction of liquid droplets emerging from the gas diffusion layer surface is modeled to study the behavior of liquid water inside the gas channel of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell with the volume of fluid (VOF) formulation. The surface contact angle of gas diffusion layer is varied as 45, 90, and 140 degrees. The air inlet velocity in the gas channel is varied as 5, 10, and 15 m/s. The water inlet velocity from micro pores is varied as 0.5, 1, and 2 m/s. As the contact angle increases, water coverage ratio increases. As the air inlet velocity and the water inlet velocity increase, water droplets move faster toward the channel exit as evidenced from the water front location plots. In summary, the hydrophobic wall contact angle and higher air/water inlet velocities provide better water removal characteristics.

A numerical analysis was performed to study PEMFC characteristics depending on the flow direction of reactant gas in cathode gas channel using the Fluent. As cathode relative humidity increases, water mass fraction increases due to back diffusion from cathode. For the both of co-flow and counter-flow cases, water mass fraction is higher near the hydrogen inlet region where the chemical reaction rate is high. In overall, counter-flow case gives higher current density compared to co-flow case for the same operating conditions. However, the difference in the current density is not high. The temperature is also higher near the hydrogen inlet region due to the chemical reaction rate for the both of co-flow and counter-flow cases.

A numerical analysis was performed to study PEMFC characteristics depending on GDL porosity and the inlet direction in cathode gas channel using the FLUENT. As GDL porosity increases, temperature increases. For the both of co-flow and counter-flow cases, temperature is higher near the hydrogen inlet region where the chemical reaction rate is high. As GDL porosity increases, current density increases. In overall, counter-flow case gives higher current density compared to co-flow case for the same operating conditions. However, the difference in the current density is not high. The water mass fraction is also higher near the hydrogen inlet region due to the chemical reaction rate for the both of co-flow and counter-flow cases.

In this paper, a three dimensional numerical analysis tool was applied to study the PEMFC performance characteristics. The porosity and electrical conductivity of GDL and CL as well as the relative humidity of anode and cathode channel gas were selected as simulation parameters. As the porosity of GDL and CL increases, current density and temperature increase because reactant gases diffuse well. As the electrical conductivity of GDL and CL increases, current density and temperature increase due to increased electron transfer rate. As anode relative humidity increases, current density and temperature increase. Unlike anode, current density and temperature increase when cathode relative humidity increases from 0 percent to 60 percent. Then current density and temperature decrease when cathode relative humidity increases from 60 percent to 100 percent.

This study is focused on the channel design of bipolar plate in the electrode of hydrogen gas generator. The characteristics of hydrogen gas generation was studied in view of efficiency of hydrogen gas generation rate and a tendency of gas flow through the riv design of electrode. Since the flow rate of generated gas is the most crucial in determining the efficiency of hydrogen gas generator, we adopted the commercial analytical program of COMSOL MultiphysicsTM to calculate the theoretical flow rate of hydrogen gas from the outlet of gas generator.