Simulasi Distribusi Pembentukan Air di Sisi Katoda pada Bidang Alir PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell)

Abstract

The presence of water in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) has a significant effect on the performance of PEMFC. One of the problems caused by water imbalance in the PEMFC system is the formation of liquid water on the cathode side. If too much water is formed it will stagnate the membrane, but if it is too dry it will cause the membrane to be damaged. Water management from PEMFC will be simulated using Computating Fluids Dynamics (CFD) Software to identify and identify water formation in the flow field in the PEMFC cathode side channel. The results showed that the increase and decrease in the amount of water resulted in a decrease in performance at PEMFC. The highest amount of water occurs in the spiral flow field at a flow rate of 4 x 10-8 kg/s with the amount of water 0.75 g/g and the lowest amount of water in the multiple channel serpentine flow field at a flow rate of 4 x 10 kg/s with amount of water 0.47 g/g. In this condition the relatively stable performance of PEMFC occurs in the single channel serpentine flow field with a flow rate of 4 x 10-8 kg/s and a depth of 0.3 mm because water formation is more regular than other forms of flow field, the amount of water formed is not so high.