A Simulation Study on the Optimization of Flow Channel Pattern in High Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

High temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) has been one of the most promising candidates for the power source of vehicles. Correspondingly, as a factor significantly influencing the performance of the HT-PEMFC, the structure of the flow channel has been extensively discussed. In this study, the multi-channel flow patterns of fuel cell was proposed, and the effect of the channel number on the fuel cell performance was investigated by numerical simulations. The results showed that the HT-PEMFC with multi flow channels performed a power density of 0.392 W cm-2, better than that of single-channel fuel cell. Furthermore, after a comprehensive consideration of performance and production cost, the bipolar plates with three flow channels is recommended. It is noted that the as-designed flow pattern contributes to the improvement of the HT-PEMFC power density.