The Effect of Fuel Cell Operational Conditions on theWater Content Distribution in the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

Models play an important role in fuel cell design and development. One of the critical problems to overcome in the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is the water management. In this work a steady state, two dimensional, isothermal model in a single PEM fuel cell using individual computational fluid dynamics code was presented. Special attention was devoted to the water transport through the membrane. The effect of current density variation distribution on the Water content (ë) in membrane/electrode assembly (MEA) was determined. Our simulation results show the reduction of reactant concentration in flow channels has a significant effect on electrochemical reaction in the gas diffusion and catalyst layer. Different fluxes are compared to investigate the effect of operating condition on the water fluxes in membrane. The model can be used for comparison of different polymer membrane performance. The model prediction of water content curves are compared with one dimensional model predictions data reported in the validated open literature and a good compatibility were observed.