Exergy flow and energy utilization of direct methanol fuel cells based on a mathematic model

An exergetic analysis model for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is established in the present paper. Expressions of electrical, thermal and total exergetic efficiencies have been deduced with consideration of methanol crossover and over potential in operation. Furthermore, energy utilization of a D...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of power sources Vol. 178; no. 1; pp. 344 - 352
Main Authors Li, Xianglin, He, Yaling, Yin, Benhao, Miao, Zheng, Li, Xiaoyue
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Lausanne Elsevier B.V 15.03.2008
Elsevier Sequoia
Subjects
Applied sciences
Computational efficiency
Computing time
Crossovers
Density
Direct methanol fuel cell
Efficiency
Energy
Energy utilization
Energy. Thermal use of fuels
Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc
Exact sciences and technology
Exergetic analysis
Fuel cells
Mathematical models
Methanol crossover
Methyl alcohol
Model
Direct methanol fuel cell
Methanol crossover
Efficiency
Exergetic analysis
Alcohol fuel cells
Operating conditions
Exergy analysis
Thermal efficiency
Mathematical model
Performance
Current density
Methanol
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Summary:An exergetic analysis model for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is established in the present paper. Expressions of electrical, thermal and total exergetic efficiencies have been deduced with consideration of methanol crossover and over potential in operation. Furthermore, energy utilization of a DMFC system is quantitatively calculated and changes of electrical efficiency and thermal efficiency at various current density, methanol concentration, operating temperature, and cathode pressure have been investigated. Some suggestions of optimal operating conditions of direct methanol fuel cell based on our findings are put forward. Results show that the thermal energy generated in a DMFC takes up a significant amount of exergy in total energy and should be sufficiently used to obtain high total efficiency in a DMFC, high methanol crossover rate is the predominant cause of energy loss when the fuel cell operates at low current density, and total exergetic efficiency of a DMFC reaches its peak value at relatively high current density.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0378-7753
1873-2755
DOI:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2007.08.019