Three-dimensional simulation of a new cooling strategy for proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack using a non-isothermal multiphase model

In this study, a new cooling strategy for a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack is investigated using a three-dimensional (3D) multiphase non-isothermal model. The new cooling strategy follows that of the Honda's Clarity design and further extends to a cooling unit every five cells in stacks. The stack consists of 5 fuel cells sharing the inlet and outlet manifolds for reactant gas flows. Each cell has 7-path serpentine flow fields with a counter-flow configuration arranged for hydrogen and air streams. The coolant flow fields are set at the two sides of the stack and are simplified as the convective heat transfer thermal boundary conditions. This study also compares two thermal boundary conditions, namely limited and infinite coolant flow rates, and their impacts on the distributions of oxygen, liquid water, current density and membrane hydration. The difference of local temperature between these two cooling conditions is as much as 6.9 K in the 5-cell stack, while it is only 1.7 K in a single cell. In addition, the increased vapor concentration at high temperature (and hence water saturation pressure) dilutes the oxygen content in the air flow, reducing local oxygen concentration. The higher temperature in the stack also causes low membrane hydration, and consequently poor cell performance and non-uniform current density distribution, as disclosed by the simulation. The work indicates the new cooling strategy can be optimized by increasing the heat transfer coefficient between the stack and coolant to mitigate local overheating and cell performance reduction

Exact Constructions of a Family of Dense Periodic Packings of Tetrahedra

The determination of the densest packings of regular tetrahedra (one of the five Platonic solids) is attracting great attention as evidenced by the rapid pace at which packing records are being broken and the fascinating packing structures that have emerged. Here we provide the most general analytical formulation to date to construct dense periodic packings of tetrahedra with four particles per fundamental cell. This analysis results in six-parameter family of dense tetrahedron packings that includes as special cases recently discovered "dimer" packings of tetrahedra, including the densest known packings with density $\phi= 4000/4671 = 0.856347...$. This study strongly suggests that the latter set of packings are the densest among all packings with a four-particle basis. Whether they are the densest packings of tetrahedra among all packings is an open question, but we offer remarks about this issue. Moreover, we describe a procedure that provides estimates of upper bounds on the maximal density of tetrahedron packings, which could aid in assessing the packing efficiency of candidate dense packings.Comment: It contains 25 pages, 5 figures

Magnetic structure of superconducting Eu(Fe0.82Co0.18)2As2 as revealed by single-crystal neutron diffraction

The magnetic structure of superconducting Eu(Fe0.82Co0.18)2As2 is unambiguously determined by single-crystal neutron diffraction. A long-range ferromagnetic order of the Eu2+ moments along the c-direction is revealed below the magnetic phase transition temperature Tc = 17 K. In addition, the antiferromagnetism of the Fe2+ moments still survives and the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural phase transition is also observed, although the transition temperatures of the Fe-spin density wave (SDW) order and the structural phase transition are significantly suppressed to Tn = 70 K and Ts = 90 K, respectively, compared to the parent compound EuFe2As2.We present the microscopic evidences for the coexistence of the Eu-ferromagnetism (FM) and the Fe-SDW in the superconducting crystal. The superconductivity (SC) competes with the Fe-SDW in Eu(Fe0.82Co0.18)2As2.Moreover, the comparison between Eu(Fe1-xCox)2As2 and Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 indicates a considerable influence of the rare-earth element Eu on the magnetism of the Fe sublattice.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Upper critical field and thermally activated flux flow in single crystalline Tl0.58_{0.58}Rb0.42_{0.42}Fe1.72_{1.72}Se2_2

The upper critical field $\mu_0H_{c2}(T_c)$ of Tl$_{0.58}$Rb$_{0.42}$Fe$_{1.72}$Se$_2$ single crystals has been determined by means of measuring the electrical resistivity in both a pulsed magnetic field ($\sim$60T) and a DC magnetic field ($\sim$14T). It is found that $H_{c2}$ linearly increases with decreasing temperature for $\textbf{H}$$\parallel$$c$, reaching $\mu_0H_{c2}^{\textbf{H}\parallel c}(0\textrm{K})\simeq60$ T. On the other hand, a larger $\mu_0H_{c2}(0\textrm{K})$ with a strong convex curvature is observed for $\textbf{H}$$\perp$$c$ ($\mu_0H_{c2}^{\textbf{H}\perp c}$(18K)$\simeq$60T). This compound shows a moderate anisotropy of the upper critical field around $T_c$, but decreases with decreasing temperature. Analysis of the upper critical field based on the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg (WHH) method indicates that $\mu_0H_{c2}(0\textrm{K})$ is orbitally limited for $\textbf{H}$$\parallel$$c$, but the effect of spin paramagnetism may play an important role on the pair breaking for $\textbf{H}$$\perp$$c$. All these experimental observations remarkably resemble those of the iron pnictide superconductors, suggesting a unified scenario for the iron-based superconductors. Moreover, the superconducting transition is significantly broadened upon applying a magnetic field, indicating strong thermal fluctuation effects in the superconducting state of Tl$_{0.58}$Rb$_{0.42}$Fe$_{1.72}$Se$_2$. The derived thermal activation energy for vortex motion is compatible with those of the 1111-type iron pnictides.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Modeling Heterogeneous Materials via Two-Point Correlation Functions: II. Algorithmic Details and Applications

In the first part of this series of two papers, we proposed a theoretical formalism that enables one to model and categorize heterogeneous materials (media) via two-point correlation functions S2 and introduced an efficient heterogeneous-medium (re)construction algorithm called the "lattice-point" algorithm. Here we discuss the algorithmic details of the lattice-point procedure and an algorithm modification using surface optimization to further speed up the (re)construction process. The importance of the error tolerance, which indicates to what accuracy the media are (re)constructed, is also emphasized and discussed. We apply the algorithm to generate three-dimensional digitized realizations of a Fontainebleau sandstone and a boron carbide/aluminum composite from the two- dimensional tomographic images of their slices through the materials. To ascertain whether the information contained in S2 is sufficient to capture the salient structural features, we compute the two-point cluster functions of the media, which are superior signatures of the micro-structure because they incorporate the connectedness information. We also study the reconstruction of a binary laser-speckle pattern in two dimensions, in which the algorithm fails to reproduce the pattern accurately. We conclude that in general reconstructions using S2 only work well for heterogeneous materials with single-scale structures. However, two-point information via S2 is not sufficient to accurately model multi-scale media. Moreover, we construct realizations of hypothetical materials with desired structural characteristics obtained by manipulating their two-point correlation functions.Comment: 35 pages, 19 figure