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A passive thermal management system (TMS) using composite phase change material (PCM) for large-capacity, rectangular lithium-ion batteries is designed. A battery module consisting of six Li-ion cells connected in series was investigated as a basic unit. The passive TMS for the module has three configurations according to the contact area between cells and the composite PCM, i.e., surrounding, front-contacted and side-contacted schemes. Firstly, heat generation rate of the battery cell was calculated using the Bernardi equation based on experimentally measured heat source terms (i.e. the internal resistance and the entropy coefficient). Physical and thermal properties such as density, phase change temperature, latent heat and thermal conductivity of the composite PCM were also obtained by experimental methods. Thereafter, thermal response of the battery modules with the three TMS configurations was simulated using 3D finite element analysis (FEA) modeling in ANSYS Fluent.

Gas distribution of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is mainly decided by flow field of bipolar plate. The improper design of distributing channel, nonuniform gas flow distribution and current density distribution among different straight channels are the leading factors that could tremendously undermine the performance and life expectancy of the cell. However, there is lack of research focusing on distributing channel in straight-parallel flow field. In this work, a three-dimensional numerical model of PEMFC cathode flow field is developed with CFD method to investigate the effects of configuration type and width of the distributing channel on pressure distribution in distributing channel and on reactant flow distribution, pressure drop and concentration distribution in multiple straight channel. Effects of electrochemical reaction and formation of water on the flow distribution are taken into consideration.

Startup from subzero temperature is one of the major challenges for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) to realize commercialization. Below the freezing point (0°C), water will freeze easily, which blocks the reactant gases into the reaction sites, thus leading to the start failure and material degradation. Therefore, for PEMFC in vehicle application, finding suitable ways to reach successful startup from subfreezing environment is a prerequisite. As it’s difficult and complex for experimental studies to measure the internal quantities, mathematical models are the effective ways to study the detailed transport process and physical phenomenon, which make it possible to achieve detailed prediction of the inner life of the cell. However, review papers only on cold start numerical models are not available. In this study, an extensive review on cold start models is summarized featuring the states and phase changes of water, heat and mass transfer.

Fuel cell vehicles (FCV) have become a promising transportation tool because of their high efficiency, fast response and zero-emission. However, the cold start problem is one of the main obstacles to limit the further commercialization of FCV in cold weather countries. Many efforts have made to improve the cold start ability. This review presents comprehensive heating methods and influence factors of the research progress in solving the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) system cold start problems with more than 100 patents, papers and reports, which may do some help for PEMFC system cold start from the point of practical utilization. Firstly, recent achievements and goals will be summarized in the introduction part. Then, regarding the heating strategies for the PEMFC system cold start, different heating solutions are classified into self-heating strategies and auxiliary-heating heating depending on their heating sources providing approach.

Water and thermal management is an essential issue that influences performance and durability of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Water content in membrane decides its ionic conductivity and membrane swelling favors the ionic conductivity, resulting in decreases in the membrane’s ohmic resistance and improvement in the output voltage. However, if excessive liquid water can’t be removed out of cell quickly, it will fill in the pores of catalyst layer (CL) and gas diffusion layer (GDL) then flooding may occur. It is essential to keep the water content in membrane at a proper level. In this work, a transient isothermal one-dimensional model is developed to investigate effects of the relative humidity of inlet gas and cell temperature on performance of a PEMFC.

The thermophysical parameters and amount of composite phase change materials (PCMs) have decisive influence on the thermal control effects of thermal management systems (TMSs). At the same time, the various thermophysical parameters of the composite PCM are interrelated. For example, increasing the thermal conductivity is bound to mean a decrease in the latent heat of phase change, so a balance needs to be achieved between these parameters. In this paper, a prismatic LiFePO4 battery cell cooled by composite PCM is comprehensively analyzed by changing the phase change temperature, thermal conductivity and amount of composite PCM. The influence of the composite PCM parameters on the cooling and temperature homogenization effect of the TMS is analyzed. which can give useful guide to the preparation of composite PCMs and design of the heat transfer enhancement methods for TMSs.

As one of the most crucial components in electric vehicles, power batteries generate abundant heat during charging and discharging processes. Thermal management system (TMS), which is designed to keep the battery cells within an optimum temperature range and to maintain an even temperature distribution from cell to cell, is vital for the high efficiency, long calendar life and reliable safety of these power batteries. With the desirable features of low system complexity, light weight, high energy efficiency and good battery thermal uniformity, thermal management using composite phase change materials (PCMs) has drawn great attention in the past fifteen years. In the hope of supplying helpful guidelines for the design of the PCM-based TMSs, this work begins with the summarization of the most commonly applied heat transfer enhancement methods (i.e., the use of thermally conductive particles, metal fin, expanded graphite matrix and metal foam) for PCMs by different researchers.

A three-dimensional two-phase single-channel purge mode of proton exchange membrane fuel cell was established, and the steady-state and purge process were simulated. The water distribution in fuel cell after steady-state operation was studied. The changing trend of water content and water volume fraction under co-flow/counter-flow purge conditions was also studied. The results show that the membrane water content and water volume fraction under the ridge position of the fuel cell is more than the flow channel. The non-uniform distribution of membrane water along the direction of the flow channel is significant in co-flow, and the difference can be up to 6. In addition, the effects of different working conditions on purge were studied. It was found that in the purge condition, the water content of the inner membrane of 120s could be basically reduced to below 3.

As turbulence modeling has become an indispensable approach to perform flow simulation in a wide range of industrial applications, how to enhance the prediction accuracy has gained increasing attention during the past years. Of all the turbulence models, RANS is the most common choice for many OEMs due to its short turn-around time and strong robustness. However, the default setting of RANS is usually benchmarked through classical and well-studied engineering examples, not always suitable for resolving complex flows in specific circumstances. Many previous researches have suggested a small tuning in turbulence model coefficients could achieve higher accuracy on a variety of flow scenarios. Instead of adjusting parameters by trial and error from experience, this paper introduced a new data-driven method of turbulence model recalibration using adjoint solver, based on Generalized k-ω (GEKO) model, one variant of RANS.

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system is considered as one of the most popular power sources because of its high energy density, fast dynamic response and zero pollution. However, the start-up at low temperature (e.g. - 30 °C) is still a major challenge for its wide application due to water freezing in Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA). In this paper, a cold start test process in an environment cabin with auxiliary heat was carried out for a full power automotive PEMFC system, including normal operation, shutdown purge and cold start processes analysis from -30°C. Rated power of this stack is 100kW at the current density of 1.4A/cm2 and relevant maximum output power can reach to 120kW. In order to reduce the damage of high potential to MEA, on-load purge with a current of 30A is conducted to removing extra water in stack for improving cold start ability. Based on corresponding control strategy, cold start was realized successfully within 110s.

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are considered an environment-friendly alternative vehicle power in the future owing to their high power density and zero-carbon emission. To research the performance of the air supplied by the PEMFC air system, the PEMFC air system bench composed of an air compressor, cooler, emulated stack, back-pressure valve, and sensors was built. Then, a PEMFC system test bench composed of a hydrogen supply subsystem, stack, air supply subsystem, electronic control subsystem, and cooling subsystem was established. The fuel cell system control parameters and control method are complex due to the coupling and nonlinearity of the air supply system. The strategy composed of a feedforward table and piecewise proportional integral (PI) feedback control strategy was employed to regulate the pressure and flow rate of the air supply system.

Cold start capability is one of remaining major challenges in realizing PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) technology for automotive applications. Gas purge is a common and integral shutdown procedure of a PEMFC automotive in subzero temperature. A dryer membrane electrode assembly (MEA) can store more water before it gets saturated and ice starts to penetrate in the open pores of porous media, thus enhancing cold start capability of a PEMFC. Therefore, gas purge is always performed prior to fuel cell shutdown to minimize residual water in a PEMFC. In the hope of improving effectiveness of purge in a PEMFC vehicle, two important purge parameters are evaluated including purge time and energy requirement. In practice, an optimized gas purge protocol should be developed with minimal parasitic energy, short purge duration and no degradation of components. To conclude, the cold start capability and performance can be consolidated by proper design of gas purge strategies.

Centrifugal compressors used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell systems are different from turbochargers in internal combustion engines, because they are required to work at high speed, low mass flow rate, narrow range which nears surge boundaries. In order to meet these requirements, a centrifugal compressor’s volute is designed, analyzed and optimized on its cross-section area, shape of volute tongue and tapered angle of exit. The numerical results show that surge boundary of the compressor is influenced by spiral area significantly and that volute tongue has a major impact on aerodynamic performances at high mass flow rates.

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) which has advantages of starting fast, high energy density, high efficiency, lower operating temperature and little pollution is widely regarded as one of the most promising energy sources. The PEMFC system includes several subsystems such as air supply subsystem, hydrogen supply subsystem, thermal management subsystem, water management subsystem, energy management subsystem and so on. The Air supply subsystem has great influence on the performance and life of PEMFC stack. Whether oxygen supply in air supply subsystem is sufficient or not will affects reaction rate of fuel, the operating temperature and degradation of PEMFC stack and so on. To solve the issue of oxygen starvation in PEMFC stack, the control strategies for improving dynamic response and preventing air shortage of the PEMFC air supply subsystem are reviewed.

As the most power-consuming component of the fuel cell system, the compressor directly affects the efficiency of the system. Using turbines to recover energy from the exhaust gas, has become a feasible means to improve the fuel cell system’s efficiency. Previous designs are mainly based on high-temperature (>523.15 K) gas. However, the exhaust gas temperature of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell is only about 348.15 K, which is much lower than the working fluid temperature of typical turbines (such as those used in internal combustion engine). In this paper, a turbine rotor for a 100kW fuel cell system was designed. The influences of non-design structural parameters including blade inlet incline angle, blade thickness, blade tip clearance and blade number on the aerodynamic performance and internal flow of the rotor are investigated. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model of the rotor single flow is established to predict the turbine aerodynamic performance.

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) is considered the most promising alternative vehicle power in the future owing to its highly power density and zero carbon emission. However, Voltage inconsistency of PEMFC is an essential issue that influences the performance of a PEMFC. It is affected by flow-rate and relative humidity of the inlet air. It’s necessary to establish a control strategy to ensure air supplied timely. A PEMFC system bench with 30 cells (the cells are numbered 1-30 in the direction from near to far from the air intake port) assembled in series was established to investigate the control strategy of air supply system. According to fuel cell’s position of the lowest voltage and the corresponding air flow rate, there are three different operations as follows. When it appears not in the low numbered area and the air flow rate is high, it indicates that humidity of the cell is insufficient and it needs to reduce power of the blower or close the bypass-valve.

Activation loss, mass transfer loss and ohmic loss are the three main voltage losses of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. While the former two types are relevant to concentration of oxygen in catalyst layer and the later one is associated with the water content in membrane. Distributions of water content and oxygen in a single cell are inconsistent which cause that current densities in each segment of the single cell are different. For the dry inlet gas, the water in the segments near the gas inlet channel will be carried to the segments near the gas outlet channel, which causes high ohmic loss of the segments near the gas inlet channel. In this work, a transfer non-isothermal quasi-three-dimensional model is developed to investigate inconsistency of current densities.

Cold start remains a major obstacle to the commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), however, there are few studies on the cold start characteristics, especially at a complicated stack level. In this study, a novel layer-lumped numerical model with higher computational efficiency is proposed to investigate the cold start behavior of PEMFC stack, in which phase transition, heat transfer and electrochemical reaction are comprehensively considered. Besides, phase transition mechanisms are reconstructed based on the assumption that super-cooled water exists within the cell. With this model, the inconsistency of the stack temperature distribution and output performance is presented, some constant loading voltage strategies are investigated, and a linear variable controlling voltage strategy is developed.

Gas purge is considered as an essential shutdown process for a PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell), especially in subfreezing temperature. The water flooding phenomenon inside fuel cell flow channel have a marked impact on performance in normal operating condition. In addition, the residual water freezes in the subzero temperature, thus blocking the mass transfer from flow channel to porous media. Therefore, the gas purge course is of primary importance for improvement of performance and durability. The water droplet residing in the flow channel can be purged out due to shearing force of gas. In fact, the flow channel is not completely flat due to surface roughness of gas diffusion layer (GDL), meaning the water droplet may climb over obstacles. Moreover, the water droplet may block the flow channel and then be sheared into films on the surface of GDL.

Electric centrifugal air compressor is one of the most important auxiliary components for the fuel cell engine, which has great impacts on the system efficiency, cost and compactness. However, the centrifugal compressor works at an ultra-high speed for a long time, which poses a great challenge to the lives of motor, bearing and seal. Therefore, reducing the rotating speed of the impeller and maintaining high pressure ratio and high efficiency are important issues for aerodynamic design of the compressor. In this paper, a centrifugal compressor rotor for a 100kW fuel cell system is designed. Aiming at reducing the rotating speed, the influences of three key structural parameters including inlet blade angle, outlet blade angle and blade outlet radius on performance are investigated. The aerodynamic performance of the compressor is predicted using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools.