This paper investigates the effects of cathode gases containing chloride ions on the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance. Chloride solutions are vaporized using an ultrasonic oscillator and mixed with oxygen/air. The salt concentration of the mixed gas in the cathode is set by varying the concentration of the chloride solution. Five-hour tests show that an increase in the concentration of sodium chloride did not significantly affect the cell performance of the PEMFC. It is found that variations in the concentration of chloride do not show significant influence on the cell performance at low current density operating condition. However, for high current density operating conditions and high calcium chloride concentrations, the chloride ion appears to have a considerable effect on cell performance. Experimental results of 108-h tests indicate that the fuel cell operating with air containing calcium chloride has a performance decay rate of 3.446 mV h(-1) under the operating condition of current density at 1 A/cm(2). From the measurements of the I-V polarization curves, it appears that the presence of calcium chloride in the cathode fuel gas affects the cell performance more than sodium chloride does. Copyright (C) 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Three-dimensional models of a plate methanol steam micro-reformer and a methanol catalytic combustor with parallel flow fields and serpentine flow fields have been established. The effects of the flow field design and the fuel flow rate on the methanol conversion and transport phenomena in the micro-reformer were investigated. The results revealed that the methanol conversion of the micro-reformer with the serpentine flow field and the combustor with the serpentine flow field has been optimized as a result of improved thermal management in the micro-reformer with combustor. With a change in flow field design from the micro-reformer and the combustor with parallel flow fields to the micro-reformer and combustor with the serpentine flow fields a wall temperature increase from 225 degrees C to 237 degrees C was observed. The methanol conversion of the micro-reformer with the serpentine flow field and the combustor with the serpentine flow field could be improved by 23% relative to the employment of a parallel flow field. A numerical model provided an efficient way to characterize the transport phenomena within the micro-reformer and combustor; the results will benefit the future design of plate methanol steam micro-reformers with combustors. Copyright (C) 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A numerical investigation of the transport phenomena and performance of a plate methanol steam micro-reformer with serpentine flow field as a function of wall temperature, fuel ratio and Reynolds number are presented. The fuel Reynolds number and H2O/CH3OH molar ratio (S/C) that influence the transport phenomena and methanol conversion are explored in detail. In addition, the effects of various wall temperatures on the plates that heat the channel are also investigated. The predictions show that conduction through the wall plays a significant effect on the temperature distribution and must be considered in the modeling. The predictions also indicate that a higher wall temperature enhances the chemical reaction rate which, in turn, significantly increases the methanol conversion. The methanol conversion is also improved by decreasing the Reynolds number or increasing the S/C molar ratio. When the serpentine flow field of the channel is heated either through top plate (Y=1) or the bottom plate (Y=0), we observe a higher degree of methanol conversion for the case with top plate heating. This is due to the stronger chemical reaction for the case with top plate heating.

Effects of geometric and thermo-fluid parameters on performance and heat and mass transfer phenomena in micro-reformer channels were investigated by mathematical modeling. The geometric parameters considered were the channel length, channel height, catalyst thickness and catalyst porosity, while the thermo-fluid parameters included wall temperature, inlet fuel temperature, fuel ratio and Reynolds number. The results of the modeling suggest that the methanol conversion could be improved by 49%-points by increasing the wall temperature from 200 degrees C to 260 degrees C. The results also show that the CO concentration would be reduced from 1.72% to 0.95% with the H2O/CH3OH molar ratio values ranging from 1.0 to 1.6. The values of parameters that enhance the performance of micro-reformer were identified, such as longer channel length, smaller channel height, thicker catalyst layer, larger catalyst porosity, lower Reynolds number and higher wall temperature. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A numerical study is performed to examine the characteristics of heat and mass transfer and the performance of a plate methanol steam micro reformer with a methanol catalytic combustor. The effects of the flow configurations for co- and counter-current flows are explored in the present study. The influences of the Reynolds number (Re) and various geometric parameters on heat and mass transfer phenomena in the channels are also investigated numerically. It is expected that the Reynolds number (Re) and various geometric parameters can be improved by thermal management to enhance the chemical reaction and thus augment the micro reformer performance. Comparing the co- and counter-current flows via numerical simulation, the results show that the methanol conversion for counter-current flow could be improved by 10%. This is due to the fact that counter-current flow leads to a better thermal management, which in turn improves fuel conversion efficiency. With a higher Reynolds number on the combustor side, the wall temperature is increased and the methanol conversion can thus be enhanced. Meanwhile, a reduced Reynolds number on the micro reformer side would increase the methanol conversion. The results also reveal that appropriate geometric parameters exist for a micro reformer with a combustor to obtain better thermal management and methanol conversion.

The CO and CO2 poisoning effects on the degradation of cell performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) under transient stage were investigated. The mechanism of CO poisoning lies in the preferential adsorbing of CO to the platinum surface and the blocking of active sites of hydrogen. These phenomena were described with adsorption, desorption, and electro-oxidation processes of CO and hydrogen in the present work. In addition, it is well known that the reverse water gas shift reaction (RWGS) is the main effect of the CO2 poisoning, through which a large part of the catalytic surface area becomes inactive due to the hydrogen dissociation. The predicted results showed that, by contaminating the fuel with 10 ppm CO at the condition of PH = 0.8 atm and PCO2=0.2atm, the current density of the PEM fuel cell was lowered 28% with rate constant of RWGS krs from zero to 0.02. With 50 ppm CO, the performance drop was only 18%. For the reformed gas, CO2 poisoning became much more significantly when the CO content in the reactant gas was small.

Heat transfer mechanisms in 14 samples of vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) are examined to reveal the influence of porous foam structure on VIP performance. The samples were produced by in-house equipment that was able to vary the foam structure by modulating the process temperature and pressure. Two parameters are proposed to describe the foam structure, namely, the broken cell ratio and the average cell size. Under a specific solid volume fraction, the average cell size shows a linear dependence on the broken cell ratio. Furthermore, the radiation and conduction heat transport data correlate well with these parameters. Radiation heat transfer increases as the broken cell ratio (cell size) increases, but solid conduction decreases as the broken cell ratio (cell size) increases. Consequently, an optimum broken cell ratio (cell size) exists such that the total heat transport is minimum under a specific solid volume fraction. However, the majority of VIP heat transfer is solid conduction. Solid conduction accounts for more than 80% of the total heat transport and is largely affected by the solid volume fraction. A rule of thumb for improving VIP performance is to reduce the solid volume fraction as much as possible to eliminate solid conduction, and maintain the cell size at an optimum value that is dependent on the solid volume fraction.

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell combined heat and power system has been chosen as a platform on which key components and system integration technologies have been developed to advance the applications of fuel-cell technology. The prototype system consists mainly of a fuel-cell stack, a natural gas reformer to supply hydrogen-rich reformate gas to the stack, a power conditioner to convert and invert the electricity generated by the stack, and a water and heat management network to provide the oxidizer (air) to and necessary cooling and humidification for the stack. The design of the stack and its components, catalysts development, design and testing of the natural gas reformer, were studied. In addition, the durability of a CO tolerant membrane-electrode-assembly has been studied with the assistance of air bleeding. Preliminary testing of the prototype combined heat and power system was carried out. It was found that the maintenance of a uniform output voltage across all single cells was more difficult with reformatted gas rather than using pure hydrogen. It was also found that the design of water and heat management network played an important role in the overall efficiency of the system.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between surface texturization and absorptance of multicrystalline silicon solar cells by a simple new model, based on the classic molecular (MD) dynamics simulation, alternative to complex electron-photon interactions to analyze the surface texturization of solar cells. In this study, the large tilted angle leads to the lower efficiency of solar cell. To consider the effect of incident angle, a range of high efficiency exists due to the increasing probability of second reflection. Furthermore, the azimuth angle of incident light also affects the efficiency of solar cells. Our results agree well with previous studies. This MD model can potentially be used to predict the efficiency promotion in any optical reflection-absorption cases.

The objective of this work is to investigate the transport phenomena and performance of a plate steam methanol micro-reformer. Micro channels of various height and width ratios are numerically analyzed to understand their effects on the reactant gas transport characteristics and micro-reformer performance. In addition, influences of Reynolds number and geometric size of micro channel on methanol conversion of micro-reformer and gas transport phenomena are also explored. The predicted results demonstrated that better performance is noted for a micro channel reformer with lower aspect-ratio micro channel. This is due to the larger the chemical reaction surface area for a lower aspect-ratio channel reformer. It is also found that the methanol conversion decreases with increasing Reynolds number Re. The results also indicate that the smaller micro channel size experiences a better methanol conversion. This is due to the fact that a smaller micro channel has a much more uniform temperature distribution, which in turn, fuel utilization efficiency is improved for a smaller micro channel reformer.

This study analyzes the phonon radiative transfer in two-dimensional porous silicon nanostructures with a phonon transport model based on the Boltzmann transportation equation. We focus on the inter-scattering between pores. The numerical results show that when the aspect ratio is less than 1.22, the scale factor dominates the thermal conductivity, and the thermal conductivity of nanostructures with in-line arrangement pores is determined by the dependent phonon scattering effect. In nanostructures with staggered arrangement pores, the phonons are prevented from transporting through the material. In general, the results show that the larger the pore size, the lower the thermal conductivity of the nanostructure. The results presented in this study provide a useful reference for the development of high-efficiency thermoelectric structures.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a simple new model, based on the classic molecular dynamics simulation (MD), alternative to complex electron-photon interactions to analyze the surface texturization of solar cells. This methodology can easily propose the absorptance differences between texturing and nontexturing solar cells. To verify model feasibility, this study simulates square, pyramidal, and semicircular texturization surfaces. Simulations show that surface texturization effectively increases the absorptance of incident light for solar cells, and this paper presents optimal texturization shapes. The MD model can also be potentially used to predict the efficiency promotion in any optical reflection-absorption cases.

High temperature polybenzimidazole membrane fuel cells are the focus of attention due to high CO tolerance and overcoming water managements. This paper develops a transient, one-dimensional mathematical model to predict CO tolerance, and validates it with experiments. Experimental results are measured at different temperatures. Fuel cell performance degradations with time are also measured under various fuel compositions. Transient evolutions of current density, H2 coverage, CO coverage, and ionic potential are shown during the CO poisoning process. The theoretical results show that hydrogen coverage decreases with time, reducing hydrogen oxidation reactions and dropping ionic potential loss. The effects of temperature, CO contents, and H2 dilutions on fuel cell performance and the time to reach steady tss are all investigated. Predictions of fuel cell current density degradation also show good agreement with experimental results.

This study investigates the electrical performance of a planar molten carbonate fuel cell unit with cross-flow configuration when both the anode gas utilization gets higher and anode gas inlet flows are non-uniform. A software package in this study solves two-dimensional, simultaneous, partial differential equations of mass, energy, and electro-chemistry' without considering stack direction variation. The results show that the anode gas utilization increases with a decrease in the molar flow rate, and the average current density decreases when the molar flow rate drops. Additionally, non-uniform inlet profile of the anode gas will induce a happening of non-reaction area. This non-reaction area deteriorates the average current density and then deteriorates the electrical performance to -4%.

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The objective of this study is to investigate the location of the gas–liquid interface at various temperatures in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell under non-isothermal conditions. A mathematical model, coupled with the electrochemical process, two-phase flows, species transfer, and heat transfer is employed. A finite volume-based CFD approach is applied to investigate the species transport behavior in a fuel cell. The effects of two model parameters, namely cell temperature (Tcell) and humidification temperature (Th), on the gas–liquid interface and cell performance are presented. Simulation results indicate that variations of these two parameters influence the location of the gas–liquid interface, the cell performance, and the distribution of liquid water saturation. At lower cell temperatures, the gas–liquid interface moves toward the inlet port of the channel when the humidification temperature is greater than the cell temperature. Therefore, the cell performance decreases as the liquid water clogs the passage for the transport of oxygen. Furthermore, these two factors are closely related to the membrane temperature distribution. Obvious variations in magnitude are seen at a cell temperature of 323K and a humidification temperature of 343K.

The objective of this study is to investigate the transient behavior of a PEM fuel cell by using a one-dimensional, two-phase mathematical model. This model treats the catalyst layer as a spherical thin film-agglomerate. Effects of various transport parameter as well as other factors such as catalyst loading, gas diffusion layer thickness and liquid water permeability on the transient evolution of major model properties and cell performance are investigated in detail. Numerical results show that the evolution of ionic potential drop and oxygen consumption experience several steps before they reach steady state. The same situation can also be seen for the evolution of water saturation and current density. A detail inspection of these phenomena shows a close relation between these transport variables and cell performance. Parametric studies of other design factors’ effects reveal there optimum values which lead to a greater current output during its evolution period.