A three dimensional numerical model for a micro proton exchange membrane fuel cell was developed to simulate the concentration distribution of the fuel gas, and analyze the flow field and current field in the fuel cell. Finite control volume scheme with SIMPLEC algorithm was employed in the numerical method. Various operating conditions on the performance of the fuel cell were studied. It was shown that the concentration of oxygen at the cathode can strongly influence the cell performance. Increase the operating temperature and the pressure of the inlet gas can improve the performance of the fuel cell.

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell possesses the characteristics of microminiaturization and low temperature operation. For this reason, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell is very suitable to serve as power source of portable electronic products. In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical model to evaluate the voltage and the total current density of a PEM fuel cell stack was developed. The polarization curves of the PEM fuel cell stack under three different operating temperatures were investigated. In this study, the micro PEM fuel cell stack contains two single cells. Pure H2 gas stream was supplied as the anode inlet flow and air as the cathode inlet flow under constant pressure at 97 kPa and constant cell temperate (298K¡B308K¡B323K) conditions. Because the cell temperature may affect the chemical reaction rate on the cathode side, we discussed the influences of different temperatures on the cell performance. Solutions were compared with the experimental data. Both the value of power density and the tendency of polarization curve are in good agreement with the experimental data.

A numerical simulation study for an interdigitated micro-channel PEM fuel cell is presented. Hydrogen gas is supplied to the anode and air is supplied to the cathode. The fuel cell outer surfaces are maintained at a constant temperature. The SIMPLEC algorithm is employed in a control volume numerical scheme. The outflow boundary conditions are specified to all transport equations except that an outlet pressure is specified to the momentum equation. Results are compared and show good agreement with the experimental data. The effects of the mass flow rate, the outlet pressure and the cell surface temperature on the cell performance are studied. The results can provide reference for fuel cell design.

The micro PEMFCs were designed and fabricated in-house through a deep UV lithography technique and the SU-8 photoresist was used as microstructure material for fuel cell flow-field plates. The effect of different operating parameters on micro PEMFCs performances and electrochemical impedances was experimentally investigated for three different flow-field configurations (interdigitated, mesh, and serpentine). Experiments with different cell operating temperatures, different backpressures on the H2 flow channels as well as various combinations of these parameters have been conducted for three different flow geometries. Results are presented in the form of the polarization VI curves, PI curves and impedance spectroscopy under different operating conditions. The possible transport mechanisms associated with the parametric effects were discussed. With PI and VI curve were found that, among the three flow patterns considered, significant improvements can be reached with a specified flow geometry. With impedance spectroscopy was found that, the effect of the parameters on high frequency straight line, medium frequency, and low frequency arc. The influence in terms of impedance on dynamic response of the present H2/air micro fuel cell under different operating conditions and flow geometry can be quantitatively measured.

In general, a PEMFC was assembled by using a number of locked bolts. But this assembly will cause concentrated loads existed on the upper and lower portions of the end plates, so that the pressure distributed non-uniformly at the internal structures in the PEMFC and thus causing uneven distributed deformations of flow-channel plates. This phenomenon may lead to the leak of reaction gas, and causing not only the decrease of the efficiency of PEMFC, but also the increase of the dangerous. If the fuel cell size getting smaller, the influence may be more severely. The main aim of this study is to simulate the response of a micro-PEMFC numerically by utilizing a 3-D FEM model while the micro-PEMFC was assembled by three pairs of bolts along the upper and lower portions, respectively, of the end plates. The effects of different bolts locking sequences on the deformation and pressure distributions at flow-channel plates and on the porosity of gas diffusion layers in the micro-PEMFC were investigated. The simulated results showed that if one locked the middle bolt either on the upper or lower portion first, then the obtained uniformities of warpage, deformation, von Mises stress and porosity were superior than the corresponding obtained results if one locked either one of the four corner bolts first. Also, among the three pairs of bolts used for assembling the cell, the first locking bolt of the first pair of locking bolts and the first locking bolt of the rest of two pairs of locking bolts were suggested on the reverse portions of the end plates.