Effect of GDL porosity and pressure on the PEM fuel cell performance with honeycomb flow-field

This paper presents a numerical modeling، provides an improved understanding of the fundamental transport phenomena inside the protone exchange membrane fuel cell with honeycomb flow-field. The problem is stated in a steady-state، three-dimensional model and Cartesian coordinates system by using a single domain and a control volume method. The model consists of non-linear، coupled partial differential equations representing the conservation of mass، momentum، species، charges and energy with electrochemical reactions that are valid for gas diffusion electrodes، catalyst layers and membrane region. The modeling of bidirectional، isothermal and steady problem of PEMFC with honeycomb flow-field provides results concerning the species fraction and potential distribution in different domain. It was found that higher backing layer porosity is favorable to oxygen diffusion and therefore، gives better performance. However، the electrical conductivity is decreased with increasing porosity. The solid potential depends on the catalyst porosity and theelectrolyte potential depends on the catholic pressure.