Explore the vast range of titles available.

In this paper, we experimentally investigated two high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) stacks for their response to the presence of reformate impurities in an anode gas stream. The investigation was aimed at characterizing the effects of reformate impurities at the stack level, including in humidified conditions and identifying fault features for diagnosis purposes. Two HT-PEMFC stacks of 37 cells each with active areas of 165 cm2 were used with one stack containing a pre-doped membrane with a woven gas diffusion layer (GDL) and the other containing a post-doped membrane with non-woven GDL. Polarization curves and galvanostatic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used for characterization. We found that both N2 dilution and impurities in the anode feed affected mainly the charge transfer losses, especially on the anode side. We also found that humidification alleviated the poisoning effects of the impurities in the stack with pre-doped membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) and woven GDL but had detrimental effects on the stack with post-doped MEAs and non-woven GDL. We demonstrated that pure and dry hydrogen operation at the end of the tests resulted in significant recovery of the performance losses due to impurities for both stacks even after the humidified reformate operation. This implies that there was only limited acid loss during the test period of around 150 h for each stack.

To facilitate the co-design and co-optimization of fluid or combustion systems and thermoelectric devices, a three-dimensional (3D) thermoelectric generator (TEG) model has been proposed and implemented in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation environment. The model includes all temperature-dependent characteristics of the materials and nonlinear fluid–thermal– electric multiphysics coupled effects. In this paper, the device-level model is first extended to the module level by taking a general geometry, identifying regions such as positive and negative thermoelements, and assigning properties to them. The system-level model is then demonstrated by coupling the module-level model with a fluidic–thermal system model in a single CFD simulator to predict the generation performance based on the thermal equilibrium that is achieved. The linked models are validated experimentally at the system level using data from three real thermoelectric modules installed on the surface of an exhaust pipe-like rig, where the temperature profile as well as the electricity generated can be measured and compared with the simulation results. The rig is intended not only to verify the proposed system model but also to mimic a practical exhaust recovery apparatus for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Based on the data obtained from the system-level test rig, a novel low-temperature low-cost application for auxiliary electric power appliances based on the waste heat of the PEMFC can be envisaged. Within the common simulator, it is shown that the thermoelectric model can be connected to various continuum-domain CFD models of the fuel cell itself, thus enabling further possibilities to optimize system efficiency and performance.

Methanol-fueled, high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HTPEMFC) power systems are promising as the next generation of vehicle engines, efficient and environmentally friendly. Currently, their performance still needs to be improved, and they still rely on a large Li-ion battery for system startup. In this article, to handle these two issues, the potential of thermoelectric (TE) devices applied in a HTPEMFC power system has been preliminarily evaluated. First, right after the fuel cell stack or the methanol reformer, thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are embedded inside a gas–liquid heat exchanger to form a heat recovery subsystem jointly for electricity production. It is calculated that the recovered power can increase the system efficiency and mitigate the dependence on Li-ion battery during system startup. To improve the TEG subsystem performance, a finite-difference model is then employed and two main parameters are identified. Second, TE coolers are integrated into the methanol steam reformer to regulate heat fluxes herein and improve the system dynamic performance. Similar modification is also done on the evaporator to improve its dynamic performance as well as to reduce the heat loss during system startup. The results demonstrate that the TE-assisted heat flux regulation and heat-loss reduction can also effectively help solve the abovementioned two issues. The preliminary analysis in this article shows that a TE device application inside HTPEMFC power systems is of great value and worthy of further study.

In this work the effects of reformate gas impurities on a H3PO4-doped polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane-based high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) are studied. A unit cell assembly with a BASF Celtec®-P2100 high temperature membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of 45 cm2 active surface area is investigated by means of impedance spectroscopy. The concentrations in the anode feed gas of all impurities, unconverted methanol-water vapor mixture, CO and CO2 were varied along with current density according to a multilevel factorial design of experiments. Results show that all the impurities degrade the performance, with CO being the most degrading agent and CO2 the least. The factorial analysis shows that there is interdependence among the effects of the different factors considered. This interdependence suggests, for example, that tolerances to concentrations of CO above 2% may be compromised by the presence in the anode feed of CO2. Methanol has a poisoning effect on the fuel cell at all the tested feed ratios, and the performance drop is found to be proportional to the amount of methanol in feed gas. The effects are more pronounced when other impurities are also present in the feed gas, especially at higher methanol concentrations.

To better manage the magnitude and direction of the heat flux in an exchanger-based methanol evaporator of a fuel cell system, thermoelectric (TE) modules can be deployed as TE heat flux regulators (TERs). The performance of the TE-integrated evaporator is strongly influenced by its heat exchange structure. The structure transfers the fuel cell exhaust heat to the evaporation chamber to evaporate the methanol, where TE modules are installed in between to facilitate the heat regulation. In this work, firstly, a numerical study is conducted to determine the working currents and working modes of the TERs under the system working condition fluctuations and during the system cold start. A three-dimensional evaporator model is generated in ANSYS FLUENT ® by combining a compact TE model with various heat exchange structure geometries. The compact TE model can dramatically improve the computational efficiency, and uses a different material property acquisition method based on module manufacturers’ datasheets. Secondly, a simulation study is carried out on the novel evaporator to minimize its thermal resistance and to assess the evaporator pressure drop. The factors studied include the type of fins in the heat exchange structure, the thickness of the fins, the axial conduction penalty, etc. Results show that the TE-integrated evaporator can work more efficiently and smoothly during both load fluctuations and system cold start, offering superior performance.

A concept for the computer-assisted visualization of tubular organs is presented. Unmarked histological zinc-stained serial sections from the epididymis of the Wistar rat were aligned to demonstrate the concept. Virtual images were made through the aligned sections and served as controls for the alignment process. Animation of the serial sections and the virtual images revealed new information about the structure of the organ under investigation. The analysis was used to upgrade the anatomical knowledge of rat epididymis by describing how the epididymal duct runs through the structure. The proximal parts of the epididymis contain large communicating septa of connective tissue dividing the caput and the upper part of the corpus epididymidis into segments. The tortuousness was high in the caput with many turns within a small area of the epididymis, whereas longer loops were found in the lower part of the corpus and cauda epididymidis. The tube of the vas deferens was found to become an integrated part of the ductal system in the cauda epididymidis, although it was histologically easy to distinguish from the epididymal duct. The total number of cross-sections of the ductus epididymidis in the 2254, 15-mu m-thick, tissue sections analysed was 104 700, giving a minimum length of the ductal system of 1.5 m. © 1998 Chapman & Hall[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]