Temperature Distributions in Single Cell of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Simulated by an 1D Multi-plate Heat-Transfer Model and a 3D Numerical Simulation Model

The purpose of this study is to verify an 1D multi-plate heat-transfer model estimating the temperature distribution on the interface between polymer electrolyte membrane and catalyst layer at cathode in single cell of polymer electrolyte fuel cell, which is named as reaction surface in this study, with a 3D numerical simulation model solving many governing equations on the coupling phenomena in the cell. The results from both models/simulations agreed well. The effects of initial operation temperature, flow rate, and relative humidity of supply gas on temperature distribution on the reaction surface were also investigated. It was found in both 1D and 3D simulations that, the temperature rise (i.e., Treact – Tini) of the reaction surface from initial operation temperature at 70 °C was higher than that at 80 °C irrespective of flow rate of supply gas. The effect of relative humidity of supply gas on Treact – Tini near the inlet of the cell was small. Compared to the previous studies conducted under the similar operation conditions, the Treact – Tini calculated by 1D multi-plate heat-transfer model in this study as well as numerical simulation using 3D model was reasonable.