Performance Data Analysis of Flow Field in Unilateral Radial Compound Bipolar Plates for Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

The flow field structure design of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) has a significant effect on the distribution of reaction gas, hydrothermal management, and battery performance. This study proposes a design of a composite bipolar plate with a unilateral drop-shaped ribs radial flow field. The anode plate and cathode plate are equipped with different structures of different flow fields. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of the number and size of droplet-like ribs on the electrochemical performance, oxygen distribution, water distribution, and pressure drop in the system. The results show that the number and size of droplet-like ribs have a significant effect on the performance of PEMFC. In the half of the calculation domain, through the comparative analysis of multiple models, it is concluded that the flow field structure design with six ribs and 0.08 cm rib radius can effectively improve the performance of PEMFC. This study provides a new scheme for the application of flow field structure in PEMFC.