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ESFuelCell2011-54069
ABSTRACT provide sufficient air flow, and require low power consumption.
Previous studies of a bi-cell piezoelectric proton exchange Various actuating methods, such as electrostatic,
membrane fuel cell with a nozzle and diffuser magnetostriction, shape memory alloy, thermopneumatic, and
(PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell) have shown that the performance of piezoelectric actuators, have been developed to pump fluid in a
the PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell could be 1.6 times greater than that precise manner. Among these actuating methods, the
of the single cell when the proper aspect ratio (AR) of 11.25 piezoelectric actuator demonstrates good reliability, energy
and the diffuser angle of 5° are applied to the diffuser. In this efficiency, and moderate volume displacement [1]. To improve
study, the novel pseudo-bipolar bi-cell module was designated its pumping flow rate, Olsson [2], Ullmann [3], and Yang [4]
parallel with an 8 cm2 reaction area, an AR of 5.63, and a have investigated the piezoelectric valveless micropump system
diffuser angle 10°. The bi-cell module was operated under in which two chambers are placed in a series or in a parallel
various operating conditions, including different operating arrangement. The results show that the flow rate in a
temperatures, bi-cell circuit and intake module on anode, the piezoelectric actuator could be controlled by changing the phase
performance of the bi-cell and the two component cells, and to difference.
optimize the integrated system output. The pump performance During operation of an AB-PEMFC, membrane hydration
of the PZT-PEMFC-ND may be influenced by the asymmetric plays an important role in proton conductivity, which
amplitude of the PZT device. The asymmetric amplitude results determines the efficiency of the electrochemical reaction.
in different air flow rates through the cathode chamber of the Furthermore, this hydration is affected by the conditions of the
component cells and in different current outputs for the inlet gases and by the cell temperature [5, 6]. Operating
component cells. For the different intake modules, the power of parameters that facilitated better water removal by evaporation,
bi-cells at flow parallel and series will produce maximum such as higher temperature, and lower inlet stream humidity,
power as 0.283 W cm-2 and 0.263 W cm-2, respectively. The resulted in a higher net current. Yi and Nguyen [7] showed that
power consumption of the PZT device should be taken into PEMFC performance was improved by anode humidification
consideration when determining the net power of the and by positive differential pressure between the cathode and
PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell. In this study, the maximum net power anode, factors that are also proved by the Nernst equation. Ge
of the bi-cell was found to be 0.7W. and Wang [8] indicated that lower cell temperature, and, hence,
INTRODUCTION higher water condensation in the anode channels, may
Air-breathing proton exchange membrane fuel cells (AB- contribute to anode flooding. The common ways of stack are
PEMFCs) have attracted attention for their potential as a power three types [9], there are bipolar, pseudo-bipolar and monopolar
source for portable electronic devices requiring low power. respectively. In this study, the pseudo-bipolar type is used for
Since AB-PEMFCs require fewer auxiliary components, such as the electrical parallel, and the external crossed wires are also
compressors, humidifiers, and heat exchangers, to support used for electrical cascade. Previous study [10] have pointed
PEMFC performance, they are characterized by a small out the flow in series from stack to stack can achieve higher
structure and a minimum balance of plant. For optimal portable total reactant utilizations.
AB-PEMFC applications, the air supply device should be small,
design, which consists of two cells with two outside anodes and
Nomenclature two inside cathodes that share a common PZT vibrating device
APZT piezoelectric area (m2) used to pump air flow. This arrangement allows one PZT device
AR aspect ratio to supply air to the two cells and pump the produced water out
C conductivity coefficient of the cells, reducing power consumption.
D channel opening width
f frequency of PZT (Hz) Actuation Mechanism
L channel path In a PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell, two diffuser elements are
P pressure (N m−2) applied to induce a larger air flow rate, as shown in Figure 2. In
Pc channel pressure this study, the cathode channel path (L) is 5.63 mm and the
Pin inlet pressure channel opening (D) is 1 mm. The lumped system developed by
Pout outlet pressure Ullmann [3] was applied to analyze the characteristics of the
R gas constant (J mol−1 K−1) valveless PZT pumping system. This method neglected spatial
t time (s) variations and, instead, focused on time variations, which do
T temperature (K) not require complex CFD methods, such as Navier-Stokes
TAn anode humidifier temperature (°C) equations. The time variation method was conducted for the
Tcell cell temperature (°C) following: pump mode (Pc>Pout>Pin), supply mode (Pout > Pin >
VPZT motion equation of the piezoelectric device Pc), and transition mode (Pout > Pc > Pin) [14-16]. An
(m s−1) assumption was supposed that the inlet pressure, Pin, was
Q flow rate always smaller than the outlet pressure, Pout, due to the
QAn anode flow rate (ml min-1) nozzle/diffuser design. In the supply mode, the diaphragm
Λ amplitude moved outward and the cathode chamber volume increased,
ζ loss coefficient which caused the chamber pressure to become lower than the
θ diffuser angle atmospheric pressure. Thus, the air was sucked into the chamber.
ρ density (kg m−3) In the pump mode, the diaphragm moved inward and the
∀ volume displacement (m3) cathode chamber volume decreased. Because the pressure
inside the cell was higher than the
Previous studies [11-14] of a novel piezoelectric proton
exchange membrane fuel cell with a nozzle and diffuser
(PZT-PEMFC-ND) have shown that a PZT device could solve
these water-flooding problems and improve cell performance.
The piezoelectric device is an actuator that pumps air into the
cathode chamber, delivering a better performance and a higher
current generation. The results also showed that improved
PZT-PEMFC-ND cell performance could be obtained using an
appropriate aspect ratio (AR) of the diffuser elements. A
previous study [15] indicated that better bi-cell performance is
obtained with an AR of 5.63 and a θ of 10°. Furthermore, a
bi-cell piezoelectric proton exchange membrane fuel cell with
nozzle and diffuser (PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell) has been
developed and its performance could be 1.6 times greater than
that of a single cell. However, slight water condensation was
found in the anode flow channels of one the PZT-PEMFC-ND
component cells [16].
The objective of this study is to investigate a
PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell with a novel pseudo-bipolar design
under various operating conditions, including different
operating temperatures, bi-cell circuit and intake module on
anode , to understand the performance of the bi-cell and the two
component cells, and to optimize the integrated system output.
Figure 1. Operation modes of the novel pseudo bipolar
THE NOVEL PSEUDO-BIPOLAR DESIGN OF THE design of a PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell.
AIR-BREATHING PZT-PEMFC-ND
Design of the Novel Pseudo-Bipolar
Various PEMFC stacks have been developed based on
different considerations of functional demands and system
designs [9]. The traditional pseudo-bipolar design contains two
cells with two inside anodes and two outside cathodes.
Typically, the PEMFC stack is constructed with the bipolar
design. However, because two piezoelectric devices are
required for a PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell, using the bipolar design
may decrease the net power output of this device. Thus, the
PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell was constructed with the novel
pseudo-bipolar design to deliver increased power. As shown in Figure 2. The cathode chamber design of a
Figure 1, this innovative design differs from the traditional PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell.
pressure outside the cell, the air was pushed into the catalyst humidifier. The humidifier is a water tank with a heater that the
layer and the water that was produced was pumped out of the reactant gas to pass through at a specific temperature. Next, the
cell. Between the pump mode and the supply mode, a transition hydrogen with water vapor is delivered to the PZT-PEMFC-ND
mode occurred when the outlet pressure was higher than the bi-cell for an electrochemical reaction. The equipment on the
chamber and inlet pressures, Pout > Pc > Pin. cathode side is more complex than the equipment on the anode
To analyze the air flow rate of the PZT-PEMFC-ND side. To activate the PZT vibrating device, a function generator
system, the system’s control volume was chosen in the cathode is utilized to first deliver the sine wave signals. The signals
chamber (Figure 3). The equation of motion for the PZT device from the function generator are then sent to an amplifier to
was a sine function given by Eq. (1). magnify the signals so that the piezoelectric device vibrates
G
VPZT = d dt[− Λ × (sin (2πft ))] . (1) when it receives the signal. To measure the power consumption
of the PZT device, a power meter is connected to the output
Thus, by using the Reynolds Transport Theorem and the terminal of the amplifier.
continuity equation [9-12], the air flow rate can be written as: The PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell, shown in Figure 5, consists
∂ G
P d∀ + ρVPZT APZT .
R ∂t ∫C∀ T
Qc = 1 (2) of two anode current collectors, two anode flow field plates,
two membrane electrode assemblies (MEA), two collector
The inlet flow from the nozzle and diffuser could be found supports, one PZT device, and one cathode current collector.
by using the diffuser element theory, as follows: The reactive area of the MEA is 2 x 2 cm², the membrane is
Qin ,l = C n (Pout − PC ) for the air inflow from left (3) Nafion®212, and the ratio of the open-air and reactive areas is
34.7% in the cathode. To prevent gas leakage, the PZT material
to right, shown in Figure 3
is attached to a gasket film, made of PDMS, on the cathode
Qin,r = Cd (Pin − PC ) for the air inflow from right (4)
current collector. The flow parallel of bi-cells circuits is used in
to left, shown in Figure 3 this experiment. In the electrical cascade, the collector support,
which is made of acrylic, works as the insulation between the
Where the conductivity coefficient can be separated into two component cells and the cells can be connected with
nozzle, Cn, and diffuser, Cd. crossed-line. In the electrical parallel, the pseudo-bipolar is
Cn = A used as the common cathode collector; the collector support is
1 ξ ρ made of gold-plating cooper plate to let two component cells be
2 n (5)
conducted. Figure 6 shows current shunt with data acquisition
modules can get the voltage of two component cells in electrical
Cd = A cascade and get the current density of two component cells in
1 ξd ρ (6) electrical parallel.
2
Although the net flow rate can be calculated using this
method, the outflow rate is irrelevant to this study because the
air through the outlet reacted throughout the electrochemical
reaction.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Figure 4 shows the test platform used to analyze
PZT-PEMFC-ND bi-cell performance. On the anode side, Figure 3. Diagram of the control volume in a
high-pressure hydrogen from the hydrogen storage bottle flows PZT-PEMFC-ND system.
through the mass flow controller and enters the bubble allows
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was funded by the National Science Council of
the Republic of China (NSC 99-2221-E-002-126-MY2 and
NSC 99-2622-E-002-029-CC3).
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