An open-source toolbox for PEM fuel cell simulation

Kone, Jean-Paul, Zhang, Xinyu, Yan, Yuying and Adegbite, Stephen (2018) An open-source toolbox for PEM fuel cell simulation. Computation, 6 (2). 38/1-38/17. ISSN 2079-3197

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Abstract

In this paper, an open-source toolbox that can be used to accurately predict the distribution of the major physical quantities that are transported within a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is presented. The toolbox has been developed using the Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) platform, which is an open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. The base case results for the distribution of velocity, pressure, chemical species, Nernst potential, current density, and temperature are as expected. The plotted polarization curve was compared to the results from a numerical model and experimental data taken from the literature. The conducted simulations have generated a significant amount of data and information about the transport processes that are involved in the operation of a PEM fuel cell. The key role played by the concentration constant in shaping the cell polarization curve has been explored. The development of the present toolbox is in line with the objectives outlined in the International Energy Agency (IEA, Paris, France) Advanced Fuel Cell Annex 37 that is devoted to developing open-source computational tools to facilitate fuel cell technologies. The work therefore serves as a basis for devising additional features that are not always feasible with a commercial code

Item Type: Article
Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; modelling; numerical; open-source code; proton exchange membrane fuel cell; simulation
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham Ningbo China > Faculty of Science and Engineering > Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Engineering
Identification Number: 10.3390/computation6020038
Depositing User: Yu, Tiffany
Date Deposited: 27 Aug 2019 09:45
Last Modified: 27 Aug 2019 09:45
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/57301

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