Electrodiffusion diagnostics of flow regimes in PEM fuel cells

S. A. Grigoriev¹ - S. Martemianov² - V. N. Fateev¹

¹ Russian Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Hydrogen Energy and Plasma Technology Institute 123182, Russia, Moscow
² Laboratoire d'Etudes Thermiques, UMR CNRS N6608, ESIP, Université de Poitiers, 86022 Potiers Cedex France }

Abstract
The present study deals with investigation of possible flow regimes in bipolar plates of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEM FC). Electrodiffusion flow measurements in gas distribution channels of bipolar plates with different design of these channels and under different operating conditions have been provided. It permitted to determine the distributions of wall shear stress, the threshold of possible laminar/turbulent transition, an existence of the co-called ``dead zones", etc. for each type of bipolar plate. The researches have shown that generally for all types of bipolar plates the laminar flow regime dominates, however, vortices are also possible. The influence of inlet/outlet conditions on the transfer phenomena in a bipolar plate, i.e., optimal parameters of gas manifold system, was estimated. Tables 2, Figs 5, Refs 8.