Alkaline membrane fuel cell (AMFC) stack modeling and simulation

Paper presented to the 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Florida, 14-16 July 2014.This paper aims to produce a dynamic model that is computationally fast to predict the response of the AMFC stack according to variations of physical properties of the materials, and operating and design parameters. The model is based on electrochemical principles, and mass, momentum, energy and species conservation. It also takes into account pressure drop in the headers, single cells gas channels and the temperature gradient with respect to space in the flow direction. The simulation results comprise temperature distribution, net power, polarization and efficiency curves. Therefore, the model is expected to be a useful tool for AMFC stack control, design and optimization purposes after adjustment and experimental validation.cf201