Experimemtal and Numerical Analysis of Bipolar width and Gas Channels Geometrical Configuration Effect on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel cell

In this paper, the besides walls of anode and cathode gas channels geometrical configuration changing effect and also bipolar plate width on proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance has been studied. In numerical procedure, for descritizing the governing equations, the finite volume method has been used.At first, the bipolar plate width has been investigated. For this purpose, the mentioned parameter, for preventing from expensive material using, has been decreased gradually. The results revealed that at width b=0.4 mm, the best performance has been produced and the current density has its maximum magnitude and about 10 percent enhances the performance compared with conventional model. Also, the effect of gas channels conversion from conventional straight form to the different sinusoidal modes has been investigated. The results showed that in channels with sinusoidal walls, the reactants pathway has been increased and consequently, their diffusion to the catalyst layers, where the chemical reaction occurs, has been grown and the the cell performance enhances. Finally, for validating the numerical work, the experimental test has been done, which is seen favorable agreement between them.