The achievement of proper electrochemical performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells depends on a number of factors, among which the difficulty in obtaining a uniform pressure distribution over the whole fuel cell active area. For a given stacking design, contact pressure levels are usually controlled by selecting an appropriate external clamping pressure on the endplates. Hence, the actual out-of-plane deformation of the endplates is believed to play a critical role. The goal of this study is to investigate this aspect by using an optical full-field measurement technique based on stereoscopic digital images correlation. The preliminary results reported in this paper, obtained by testing a PEMFC with 13 mm thick Cu endplates, shows that the endplates bend noticeably under loading, leading to an uneven distribution of the out-of-plane deformation field.
ASSESSMENT OF FUEL CELL'S CONTACT PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION BY MEANS OF DISTRIBUTED FILM SENSORS AND DIGITAL IMAGE CORRELATION TECHNIQUES
G Squadrito;G Giacoppo
2010
Abstract
The achievement of proper electrochemical performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells depends on a number of factors, among which the difficulty in obtaining a uniform pressure distribution over the whole fuel cell active area. For a given stacking design, contact pressure levels are usually controlled by selecting an appropriate external clamping pressure on the endplates. Hence, the actual out-of-plane deformation of the endplates is believed to play a critical role. The goal of this study is to investigate this aspect by using an optical full-field measurement technique based on stereoscopic digital images correlation. The preliminary results reported in this paper, obtained by testing a PEMFC with 13 mm thick Cu endplates, shows that the endplates bend noticeably under loading, leading to an uneven distribution of the out-of-plane deformation field.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
