Liquid water in cathode gas diffusion layers of PEM fuel cells: Identification of various pore filling regimes from pore network simulations

• Published in: International journal of heat and mass transfer Vol. 129; pp. 1043 - 1056
• Main Authors: Carrere, P., Prat, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2019; Elsevier BV; Elsevier
• Subjects: Capillarity; Cathodes; Computer simulation; Condensation; Diffusion; Diffusion layers; Engineering Sciences; Evaporation; Fluids mechanics; Fuel cells; Gas diffusion layer; Gaseous diffusion; Gases; Liquid injection; Liquid phases; Mechanics; Operating temperature; PEM fuel cells; Performance degradation; Pore network modelling; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells; Simulation; Water; Water distribution; Water management; Pore network modelling; Evaporation; PEM fuel cells; Gas diffusion layer; Liquid injection; Condensation
• ISSN: 0017-9310; 1879-2189
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.10.004

•A liquid–vapour Mixed Injection Pore Network Model is presented.•The model allows simulating a large range of operating conditions.•Simulations are in good agreement with several experimental results.•A regime diagram summarizes the main operating regimes identified.•The model opens up new perspectives for understanding the water transfer in PEMFC. A pore network model (PNM) aiming at simulating the liquid water pore filling in the cathode gas diffusion layer (GDL) in an operating PEM–fuel cell is presented. Compared to previous works, the model allows simulating a significantly larger range of operating regimes. It notably allows considering the situation where the channel gas is fully humidified both for low temperature operating conditions (∼40 °C) and standard temperature operating conditions (∼80 °C) as well as for intermediate operating temperatures. The model leads to results in good agreement with several experimental observations from the literature. This allows defining a regime diagram summarizing the main operating regimes identified in the course of the study, namely the dry regime, the dominant condensation regime, the dominant liquid injection regime, the mixed regime where both the capillarity controlled invasion in liquid phase from the adjacent layer and condensation are important. The proposed model opens up new perspectives for understanding the water transfer in proton exchange membrane fuel cells and the associated water management and performance degradation issues.