Numerical investigation of performance parameters and effect of cooling of pem type fuel cells with nanofluids

As it is known, the energy demand of the world is increasing, and existing resources are insufficient to meet this growth. Fuel cells, which convert chemical energy into electrical energy with low emission and high efficiency, can be a decent alternative energy source. Recently, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are preferred due to their portability, zero emission, high efficiency and operating at low temperatures. Operating temperature significantly affects fuel cell performance. High operating temperatures adversely affect fuel cell performance. Therefore, the fuel cell should be cooled to avoid performance losses and to extend its life. In this theoretical study, it is aimed to investigate performance parameters of a PEMFC and to investigate change of performance parameters with cooling by fluid/nanofluids, numerically. For this purpose, performance curves of the PEMFC were obtained using MATLAB and the results were compared with other experimental studies. Then, the PEMFC was modelled in Fluent© and the results were compared with another study. Studies on cooling of fuel cells have been carried out in Fluent© program. Simulations in Fluent© were carried out for three different cooling channel geometries and for three different fluid/nanofluids. Accordingly, the serpentine-shaped cooling channel has the most effective cooling. In addition, the zigzag-shaped cooling channel has a better cooling performance than the straight one. Also, increasing of number of cooling channels provided a more effective cooling performance. In this study, cooling performance of nanofluids has also been studied. Accordingly, aluminium dioxide-water nanofluid showed the best performance in the cooling process. Besides, copper oxide-water nanofluid provided better performance than water. Moreover, the cooling led to a more uniform temperature distribution in PEMFC and the cooling naturally decreased temperatures in the anode and cathode.