In-plane effects in large-scale PEFCs: II. The influence of cooling strategy on cell performance

A previously developed mathematical model for water management and current density distribution in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFCs) is employed to investigate the effects of cooling strategies on cell performance. The model describes a two-dimensional slice through the cell along the channels and through the entire cell sandwich including the coolant channels and the bipolar plate. Arbitrary flow arrangements of fuel, oxidant, and coolant stream directions can be described. Due to the serious impact of temperature on all processes in the PEFC, both the relative direction of the coolant stream to the gas streams and its mass flow turns out to significantly affect the cell performance. Besides influencing the electrochemical reaction and all kinds of mass transfer temperature, variations predominantly alter the local membrane hydration distribution and subseqently its conductivity.