Full text
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| Author(s): |
Otávio Beruski
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Carlos. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Química de São Carlos |
| Defense date: | 28 jul. 2017 |
| Examining board members: |
Joelma Perez;
Edgar Ferrari da Cunha;
Ruy de Sousa Junior
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| Advisor: | Joelma Perez |
| Abstract | |
Two systems related to proton-exchange membrane fuel cells were studied through computational models. A cell prototype was used to study fluid dynamics, where the fluid flow formulation was validated against provided experimental results, being later used to quantify its contribution to species transport in the porous media. This same systems was explored regarding its flow channel geometry, where it was possible to establish a hierarchy relative to the concentration overpotential loss as a function of the reactant stoichiometry. It was obtained that, for the recommended stoichiometries for a real cell, the best performance would be attained by a single serpentine and a double, or triple, serpentine geometries for the anode and cathode, respectively. A full cell was also studied, being compared against experimental results obtained locally. It was observed that the model shows good agreement with the global aspects of the real device, while the local aspects are widely misrepresented. This model was also used to quantify the contribution of convection to reactant distribution, corroborating and extending the studies performed with the cell prototype. In all, the possibilities and challenges concerning the use of computational models with fuel cells and similar systems are suggested, particularly by establishing the connection between a prototype and a real device. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 13/11316-9 - Modeling and simulation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell |
| Grantee: | Otávio Beruski |
| Support type: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct) |