i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0

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Experimental investigation of the thermal

response of open-cathode proton exchange
membrane fuel cell stack

Qifei Jian*, Bi Huang, Lizhong Luo, Jing Zhao, Songyang Cao, Zipeng Huang
School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640,
Guangdong, China

article info abstract

Article history: The aim of this study is to investigate the thermal response characteristics of the proton
Received 15 March 2018 exchange membrane fuel cell stack. In order to find out the regularities of temperature
Received in revised form variation under rapidly increasing load change, a home-made 500 W open-cathode stack
13 May 2018 embedded with 30 thermocouples was made and tested. The result shows that the local
Accepted 15 May 2018 temperature dominates the thermal response at the initial stage while the membrane
Available online 5 June 2018 hydration is the crucial impact factor at low power stage. Further, the anode flooding
strongly affects the stability of the output performance and the change of temperature at
Keywords: the overloaded stage. The maximum temperature difference within one cell can reach a
PEMFC stack steady state faster than that of the temperature. At normal operation, there is little dif-
Open-cathode ference between the defined surfaces. The exergy analysis shows that the reaction air will
Thermal response have higher exergy if the temperature variation is more smooth. This experimental study
Dynamic performance contributes to the optimization of the cooling strategy and thermal management of the
open-cathode stack in application.
© 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

emission [4], etc. Therefore, it's a promising power source in

Introduction
The conventional energy is running out along with the envi-
ronmental deterioration. Finding renewable and clean energy
has become one of the most important subjects nowadays.
Hydrogen is an environmental-friendly alternative of fossil fuel
as energy sources [1]. And it can be supplied to the anode of the
proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) as fuel. PEMFC,
a new energy generation approach, can directly convert the
chemical energy of the reactant gases into electrical energy
[2,3]. And it has the advantages of fast start-up, high power
intensity, low running temperature and non-pollution
automobile and other portable and compact device [4e6].
Thermal transient behavior has great influence on the
performance and durability of the proton exchange mem-
brane fuel cells. For the purpose of achieving a smooth and
safe transition through frequent load changes, the dynamic
behavior of the PEMFC stack is getting attention in the field.
The transient response of a single PEMFC has been investi-
gated widely using both experimental and numerical
approach. But due to the difficulty in gauging the local tem-
perature, the studies focus on the dynamic behavior espe-
cially the thermal response characteristic at the stack level are
fewer in quantity.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: tcjqf@scut.edu.cn (Q. Jian).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.05.097
0360-3199/© 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
13490 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0

voltage undershoot in the transient process. Tang et al. [11]

Nomenclature conducted tests of a kW-class PEMFC stack under different
conditions including start-up, shut-down, step-up load, reg-
BP bipolar plate
ular load and irregular load. It can be known from the exper-
CCM catalyst coated membrane
iments that both the overshoot and undershoot change with
GDL gas diffusion layer
the variation of current levels. And the stack temperature
MEA membrane electrode assembly
varies slowly without the aforementioned phenomenon and
MP measuring point
shows an arc-like profile. Raj et al. [12] explored the impact of
PEMFC proton exchange membrane fuel cell
operating parameters on the dynamic performance of a dead-
S surface
_ end anode stack with 24 cells. The result shows that the
EX exergy, kW
increment of current and cathode stoichiometry strongly
ex specific exergy, kJkg
1
affect the transient response. Lu et al. [13] found that spraying
I current, A
RuO2 $xH2 O onto the catalyst layers can improve and stabilize
P pressure, Pa
the dynamic response process. Jian et al. [14] investigated the
Subscripts transient behavior of a 2 kW PEMFC stack. The result points
a anode out that the oscillation rate and the resistance decrease faster
bot bottom while the external load increases in a step-up mode. Further,
c cathode the hydrogen humidity and the charge double-layer are also
ch chemical crucial factors. Li et al. [15] studied the voltage uniformity with
cond heat conduction dynamic loading and found that the change frequency and
conv heat convection step of the load are the main impact factors. Most of the
dis heat dissipation experimental researches analyze the total and local voltage
gen heat generation transient response to the load change. But few studies inves-
Q heat transfer rate, W tigate the variation of the operation temperature. The tran-
R universal gas constant, 8.3145 Jmol
1K
1 sient thermal behavior of the cells located in different
T temperature,  C positions of the stack is very limited. Thus, it has not been
U voltage, V specifically recorded yet due to the difficulty in measuring the
εT temperature variation rate local temperature.
a thermal diffusivity, m2 s
1 Enormous numerical models have been developed to
l thermal conductivity, Wm
1 K
1 compensate for the limitation of measurement in experiments.
r density, kgm
3 Kong et al. [16] proposed a simplified hybrid model that can
cp constant-pressure specific heat, Jkg
1 K
1 characterize both the steady and transient behavior of the
k specific heat ratio PEMFC stack. To describe the water dynamic for a 24-cell
x molar fraction PEMFC stack, Schilter et al. [17] presented a lumped param-
hyd hydrogen eter model including pressure terms of the reactant gases. The
inter interface simulation shows that it can better characterize the transient
mid middle behavior of oxygen. Jang [18] developed a transient thermal
p production management model and carried out parametric analysis. The
r reaction results show that the heat transfer coefficient of the cooling
top top water is important in thermal response of a PEMFC stack. Min
0 standard condition et al. [19] put forward a model for the transient heat transfer of
PEMFC stack. The model indicates that the operating current
makes a great difference on the temperature response. Park
Jia et al. [7] tested the voltage dynamic response of a PEMFC et al. [20] constructed a dynamic model considering tempera-
stack of 20 cells under various conditions. The result indicates ture and water effect for a stack of 20 PEMFCs. And the results
that the time it takes from initial status to the next steady highlight that a large temperature gradient is found at the end
state highly depends on the position where the cell is located of the stack in a dynamic process. Shevock [21] built a system
within the stack. The operating conditions also make differ- level model of temperature response in the PEMFC system
ence. Corbo et al. [8] investigated the air management stra- which is dependent on the lumped capacity. And this model
tegies of a 20 kW stack to obtain the best balance between the can be scaled to match any size of other stacks. Gerard et al. [22]
dynamic response and the overall efficiency. It's found that introduced a modeling method that is capable of predicting the
the strategy which takes slightly excess stoichiometric ratio local oxygen distribution as well as the temperature. The
into consideration can achieve the goal. Zhu et al. [9] carried voltage transient response can also be carried out. Xu et al. [23]
out an energy management solution with super capacitor for a proposed an electrochemical based model of PEMFC stack. The
5 kW PEMFC stack. And it successfully slowdowns the change dynamic voltage simulation agrees to the experiment well
of the output current of the stack while the demand of the load except the open voltage. Kim et al. [24] decomposed the com-
is still rapidly met. Moçote
guy et al. [10] studied the influence plex component models of a PEMFC system. This new decom-
of long-term operation on the dynamic performance of a position approach successfully characterizes the dynamic
500 W stack. It's known that the cell which shows severer performance effectively. Latha et al. [25] predicted the transient
degradation after long-term running also presents larger behavior of a 1.2 kW PEMFC stack by tuning the parameters of a
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0
single model. Murugesan et al. [26] put forward a novel PEMFC
model considering water dynamic to predict the stack voltage
under load change. Fly et al. [27] investigated the transient
temperature variation by a validated model of a PEMFC stack
which includes an evaporation cooling system. The results
show that the temperature changes less compared with the
conventional liquid cooled condition. Jian et al. [28] established
a genetic algorithm to simulate the dynamic characteristics of a
2 kW stack whose maximum error can be controlled below 4%.
There are common drawbacks of the numerical methods:
scarce models give the local temperature under the load change
because the heat generation and transfer are too complicated
to be formulated. Moreover, due to the lack of temperature
data, the accuracy of the models with thermal results is only
validated by voltage data in most cases.
The thermal response also has relation with the available
work of the PEMFC stack system which is referred as exergy.
Exergy is generally applied for thermoeconomic analysis to
evaluate the energy quality [29e31]. Barelli et al. [32] compared
the exergy analysis of PEMFC and SOFC-based micro-cogener-
ative system. The results show that the PEMFC-based system is
more efficient at the atmospheric pressure and low tempera-
ture. Uyanga et al. [33] presented the exergy analysis of a 1.2 kW
module. The results show that the operating temperature, air
stoichiometry, pressure and cell voltage have influence on the
exegetic efficiency. The exergy analysis is carried out in the
study to investigate the effect of temperature fluctuation.
Temperature variation is a slow process compared with the
process of ohmic drop, capacitive discharge, gas transport and
so on. Therefore, the feature of temperature dynamic
behavior of a PEMFC stack can't be easily deduced from the
experimental and numerical results of other parameters. The
aim of this study is to find out the characteristics of thermal
transient response of open-cathode PEMFC stack. A 500 W
open-cathode stack embedded with 30 thermocouples was
made. It was then tested with successively-increasing load
changes which a stack may suffer in the practical application.
The experiment data and the following analysis are of great
significance to further understand the mechanism. And the
study contributes to the optimization of the cooling strategy
and thermal management of PEMFC stacks.
Advantages and disadvantages of PEM fuel cells
PEM fuel cells transform the chemical energy of hydrogen and
oxygen into electrical energy during electrochemical reaction.
There are strengths and drawbacks of PEMFC compared with
other energy sources and fuel cells.
Compared with conventional heat engine (like internal
combustion engine), the outstanding advantage of PEM fuel
cells is that it’s not limited by Carnot theorem [34]. In other
words, PEM fuel cells can obtain higher efficiency. Further,
unlike heat engine which consumes fossil fuels, the only re-
action product of PEMFC is water [35] so that it won't pollute
the environment.
Compared with Li-ion battery, PEM fuel cells has higher
power density. And refueling hydrogen is much faster than
recharging the Li-ion battery. Therefore, PEMFCs power
13491
system is more preferable for long-distance automobile. On
the other hand, the durability of PEM fuel cells is lower than
that of Li-ion battery. And common and effective catalysts of
PEMFC are expensive precious metal, such as platinum.
Compared with other types of fuel cells, the advantages of
PEM fuel cells are high power density, low operation temper-
ature, high efficiency and fast start-up [36]. Meanwhile, it's
harder to recover the generated heat due to the low working
temperature. These characteristics make PEM fuel cells more
suitable for automotive application and compact device rather
than stationary power station.
Heat transfer in an open-cathode PEMFC stack
Heat generation
The overall heat generation of a single cell can be calculated
by
Qgen ¼ IðUideal
Uc Þ (1)
where Uideal is the ideal voltage, Uc is the cell voltage and I is
the current of the circuit. Uideal is 1.48 V or 1.25 V depending on
the phases of generated water (higher heating value or lower
heating value). It can be known from Eq. (1) that the transient
response of the produced heat depends on the momentary
change of the cell voltage when the current is stepped to
another level. Generally, voltage undershoot will be observed
if the load has a sudden change. It's a complex phenomenon in
relation to the reactant concentration, internal resistance,
stoichiometric, membrane hydration and so on.
Cooling process
Condition of heat ejection is another crucial factor in thermal
response. Cross-flow bipolar plates (BPs) are applied in this
PEMFC system. The heat flow of an analyzed membrane
electrode assembly (MEA) unit marked with green hollow
rectangular is shown in Fig. 1.
The largest part of the heat produced from electrochemical
reaction is removed from the stack by forced convection of the
gaseous reactants. The anode is a dead-end design so that the air
is served as the major coolant in this type of stack. For the pur-
pose of simplification, it's assumed in the study that (i) the local
flow velocity in each channel is assumed to be identical to the
average speed; (ii) the thermal capacity and viscosity of the
reactant are constant. Thus, in a dynamic process of a specific
stack, the convection heat transfer coefficient is a function of the
local transient temperature of MEA, gaseous reactant and the
interface between BP and the gas channel. The heat removed by
convection as seen in Fig. 1(a) and (b) can be expressed as Eq. (2)
and Eq. (3), respectively. It's known from the equations that the
transient temperature of the membrane strongly affects the
degree of heat convection. And it also has influence on the heat
generation. The total heat dissipation is given by Eq. (4).



Qconv ¼ Qconv;air TMEA;c ; Tair ; Tinter;c þ Qconv;hyd TMEA;a ; Thyd ; Tinter;a
(2)


Qconv ¼ Qconv;air TMEA;c ; Tair ; Tinter;c (3)
13492 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0

Fig. 1 e Heat flow in the PEMFC stack: (a) cross-section containing hydrogen channel; (b) cross-section without hydrogen
channel.

Qdis ¼ Qconv þ Qcond
Moreover, the ambient air can cool the surface of the
stack by natural convection. The main reason for the non-
uniform temperature distribution of MEA among the whole
stack is the insufficient heat conduction. The heat produced
nearer to the core of the stack is more hardly conducted to
the edge. So the temperature in the center of the stack will be
higher as a consequence. The heat diffusion capacity of a
(4) material can be quantified by thermal diffusivity a which is
defined as
a ¼ l=rcp (5)
where l is the thermal conductivity, r is the density and cp is the
constant-pressure specific heat. The higher the thermal diffu-
sivity is, the faster the heat spread through the material. These
characteristics of different materials of BPs should be taken
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0 13493

Fig. 2 e The PEMFC stack: (a) overview; (b) arrangement of measuring points.

Table 1 e Detailed parameters of the stack. To better illustrate the transient thermal characteristics of
the stack, temperature variation rate εT is introduced which is
Characteristic Value
defined as
Active area (m2) 68:5  10
4


Depth of the hydrogen channel (m) 0:4  10
3 εT ¼ T
Tp Tp (7)
Width of the hydrogen channel (m) 1:2  10
3
Width of the anode rig (m) 2:4  10
3 where T is the real time temperature, Tp is the temperature
Depth of the air channel (m) 2:1  10
3 before the current change.
Width of the air channel (m) 1:3  10
3 In summary, the transient temperature variation is a
Width of the cathode rig (m) 1:0  10
3 consequence of Qgen sQdis . Given a step-up in current, there
BP thickness (m) 3:0  10
3
will be an augment of Qgen almost immediately due to the rapid
voltage response. Then the temperature and its distribution
will experience a slower adjustment due to the expanded
Table 2 e Uncertainties of the parameters. temperature gradient. The thermal transient features of
Parameter Max total uncertainty different cells or positions within the stack are difficult to
characterize without experimental approach up to now. Thus,
Voltage ±2:72%
Current ±1:67%
this study investigates the transient thermal behavior of the
Power ±3:19% open-cathode PEMFC stack mainly by experiments.
Temperature ±0:73%
Temperature variation rate ±0:01 Exergy analysis
Exergy ±1:65%
The exergy of a PEMFC stack system equals to the total exer-
into consideration in the design stage of the thermal manage- gies of the reactants [33] as expressed in Eq. (8).
ment system.


EX _ air;r þ EX
_ system ¼ EX _ H ;r
EX _ H O;p
_ air;p þ EX (8)
2 2

Temperature variation
The remaining heat results in temperature increase in stack's
components as calculated by Eq. (6). It can be known from the
Eq. (6) that the local heat generation rate and dissipation rate
have influence on the speed of temperature variation. Besides,
the temperature change rate also depends on the specific heat
cp . The temperature of material with higher cp will rise slower
under the same heat flux.
In this study, the thermocouples are applied to obtain the
temperatures of cathode GDLs. The GDL is directly exposed to
the air in the flow channel, so that the cathode reaction gas
has the same variation characteristic as GDL. Therefore, the
specific exergy of the reaction air exair;r is used to assess the
influence of temperature variation on the available work of
the air. exair;r can be calculated by Eqs. (9)e(11) [37].
exair;r ¼ exch þ exph (9)

Qgen
Qdis ¼ cp mðdT=dtÞ (6)

13494 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0

Fig. 3 e Polarization curve of the stack.

Fig. 4 e Transient response of cell voltage and output power.

X X
exch ¼ xn exnch þ RT0 xn ln xn
h i
exph ¼ cp T=T0
1
ln T=T0 þ lnðP=P0 Þ k
1=k
where exch is the chemical exergy, exph is the physical exergy,
xn is the molar fraction of the component, exnch is the standard
chemical exergy of the component, R is the universal gas
constant, k is the specific heat ratio, T0 ð25 CÞ and P0 (101.3 kPa)
are the temperature and pressure of the standard condition.
Experimental
Experimental setup
The home-made 500 W (nominal power) PEMFC stack for
testing comprises 40 single cells with open-cathode. 30
(10)
thermocouples are inserted on the surfaces of cathode gas
(11) diffusion layers (GDLs) of the selected cells which are marked
out in Fig. 2(a). There are six measuring points (MPs) for each
cell mentioned above as seen in Fig. 2(b). The MPs embedded
on the top of GDLs are numbered as MP 1 and MP 4. Similarly,
MP 2 and MP 5 are located at the middle position while MP 3
and MP 6 are inserted at the bottom. To simplify the expres-
sion, the top, middle and bottom of GDLs are presented as Stop ,
Smid and Sbot in the following sections. The detailed parame-
ters of the stack are listed in Table 1. Moreover, the bipolar
plates are made of graphite. The MEA is 650 mm including two
GDLs and a catalyst coated membrane (CCM). And the thick-
nesses of GDL and CCM are 300 mm and 50 mm, respectively.
The catalyst (platinum) loadings of anode and cathode are
0.16 mg/cm2 and 0.64 mg/cm2, respectively.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0 13495

Fig. 5 e Temperature variation rate at each stage of (a) cell 4, (b) cell 12, (c) cell 20, (d) cell 28 and (e) cell 36.
13496 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0

Fig. 6 e The output power of the stack and temperature variation rate of Cell 20 (640 s < t < 740 s).

Table 3 e Summary of the feature of temperature variation.

Stage Description Dominant factor
Initial stage The temperature of the middle of the cell increases rapidly and Reaction temperature
outstandingly.
Low power stage The temperature of the bottom of the cell rises faster than in the initial Membrane hydration
stage, even faster than that of the middle part.
Nominal stage The in-plane difference is larger if a cell is closer to the hydrogen inlet- Hydrogen flow distribution
outlet plane.
Overloaded stage The temperature fluctuates severely and periodically. Anode flooding

The thermocouples applied in the study are K-type (Omega obtained parameters are list in Table 2. The reliabilities of the
GG-K-30). And the temperature values were recorded at 1s main analytical parameters are more than 96%. Further, the
intervals by a data acquisition (YOGOKAWA) whose accuracy max total uncertainty of the temperature variation rate,
is ±0:2 C. The purity of the hydrogen is 99.99% and it was not which plays the most vital role in the study, is below 1%.
humidified during the tests. The current was controlled by a
Test procedure
DC electronic load (Jartul JT6344A) whose accuracy is
±ð0:015% þ 0:15VÞ=±ð0:015% þ 0:12AÞ. Further, the pressure of
The PEMFC stack was fully activated prior to the experiment.
hydrogen was set to 0:05MPa (gauge pressure). The air was
In the experiment, the current was increased from 0 A to 40 A
supplied to the stack with the temperature of 20  C, the rela-
with the step of 5 A. To investigate the transient behavior of
tive humidity of 70% and a constant flow rate of 38:06m3 =h.
the stack at rapidly increasing load changes, the time intervals
The stoichiometry of air is 24e190 depending on the load
were set relatively short compared with other studies that
current in the experiment. So the PEMFCs were sufficiently fed
focus on the long-term or static operation. Firstly, the current
in every stage with this volumetric flow rate. Moreover, the
is stepped from 0 A to 5 A and was maintained for 60s before it
purge time of the anode solenoid valve is 0.44 s. And there is a
was increased to the next higher level. Similar routines were
17.86 s break between two purges.
applied with 100s time interval for 10 Ae15 A, and 120s for
20 Ae35 A, respectively. However, in the test, the output
Uncertainty of the PEMFC stack analysis
performance deteriorated intensely at the current of 40 A. To
avoid irreversible damage to the fuel cell and ensure safety,
To confirm the accuracy of the measured data and the
the experiment was stopped manually after 56s' running in
calculation results, uncertainty analysis is presented. The
this condition. An experiment with the same procedure was
uncertainty of temperature variation rate wεT is computed by
then done successively to validate the result.
Refs. [38e41]:
h
 2
 2 i1=2
wεT ¼ wT Tp þ TwTp Tp (12)
Results and discussion

where wT is the uncertainty of the real time temperature, wTp The polarization curve and output characteristics
is the uncertainty of the temperature before the current
change. According to the experimental data and the resolu- For the purpose of accurate analysis of the thermal perfor-
tions of the measuring devices, the total uncertainties of the mance of the stack, the polarization curve and output
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0 13497

Temperature variation rate

Fig. 5 shows the temperature variation rates of 30 measuring

points. The dashed lines indicate the change point of the stack
current. To characterize of different stages coherently and
cohesively, the experiment process is divided into four stages,
which are marked in Fig. 5(a).

(a) Initial stage

The temperature grows fastest at Smid in all measuring cells

as shown in red and purple lines. With this low current
density, the temperature of the stack is below the most
efficient range for the electrochemical reaction (50 C
60 C
for the tested PEMFC). The reactivity of the electrochemical
reaction increases gradually with the rise of operating
temperature at the start-up stage. And the temperature is
higher at the middle section of the cell as analyzed in Sec-
tion Cooling process so that there is higher reactivity. In
return, the temperature increases more rapidly where it's
closer to the center of the fuel cell. On the other hand, there
is little generated water so it is not the dominant factor in
this stage.

(b) Low power stage

The εT is apparently higher in this stage. The water is

generated faster than the initial stage, and the membrane
electrode assembly (MEA) gets further hydrated gradually.
Thus, the reactivity of reaction as well as Qgen is higher
compared with the initial stage. What's more, the MEA hy-
dration was uneven in-plane due to gravity. The temperature
variation rates of the bottom measuring points, as shown in
Fig. 7 e Maximum temperature difference: (a) comparison yellow and grey lines, are also at a relatively higher level be-
between cells; (b) comparison between surfaces. sides that of the Smid . The change of the bottom part is a
consequence of gravity which leads to higher water accumu-
lation and membrane hydration here. In this stage, the
membrane hydration is the main factor that affects the dy-
characteristics are carried out at first. The polarization curve
namic behavior of temperature.
is demonstrated in Fig. 3 and the average Uc and output power
P are shown in Fig. 4.
(c) Nominal stage
It's the crucial feature of Fig. 4 that the performance of the
stack oscillates severely and periodically where P > 500W
In the nominal stage, the output power is about 80%e120%
(overloaded condition). This fluctuation is believed as a
of its nominal power. The temperature changes smoothly
consequence of anode flooding. Because its period is about
when the curslowrent is steps from 10 A to 15 A, from 15 A to
18s which is identical to the interval of a purge cycle. At the
20 A and from 20 A to 25 A. According to Fig. 4, the transitions
overloaded condition ðt > 380sÞ, the liquid water accumula-
of average cell voltage are also gentle compared with the first
tion at the anode can't be neglected. And it has great impact
two stages. Further, the in-plane difference of εT is smaller
on the mass transfer as well as the stability of the PEMFC
where the cell is farther from the hydrogen inlet-outlet plane.
stack performance. It can be seen from the data that, once
The reason for this phenomenon is that the disturbance and
the water is discharged along with the unconsumed H2, the
concentration difference of the anode reactant is most severe
anode flooding is alleviated almost immediately and the ca-
where it enters and exits the stack. On the other hand, the
pacity increases to a local peak. Then, the cell voltage and
current distribution is relatively uniform at the other end.
output power decrease gradually until the next purge.
Particularly, it's clearly seen that the temperature of the
Moreover, the performance of the stack declines dramati-
bottom of the Cell 20 changes the most slowly when the cur-
cally at the last stage. With respect to the normal operation
rent is stepped from 20 A to 25 A. The most possible reason for
condition ðt < 380sÞ, the undershoots are observed and the
this phenomenon is that the accumulated liquid water blocks
minimum value turns up when the current is increased from
the mass transportation at the bottom of Cell 20. And the
10 A to 15 A.
13498 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0
Table 4 e Comparison of maximum temperature difference.
Nominal operation
Reach steady state Difference between
cells/surfaces
DT of cells in about 40s increases as
current rises
DT of surfaces no little
electrochemical reaction is slowed down as a consequence. It
can be deduced that the bottom part in the middle of the stack
will be the first to be influenced by flooding.
(d) Overloaded stage
The εT of Cell 20 varies in an unsmooth way in this stage.
Even though the overall trend for temperature is still upward,
there are momentary decreases as seen in Fig. 5(c). The anode
flooding affects the performance of the stack severely in this
stage. The local temperature is the highest at the middle of the
stack, so that it’s most sensitive to the change of water content.
It can also be seen in Fig. 5(b) and (d) that Cell 12 and Cell 28
show similar phenomenon but in a slighter manner. Referring
to Fig. 4, the anode flooding dominates the performance of the
PEMFC stack in the overloaded stage. The amount of the water
generated from the electrochemical reaction is further
increased in such a high current density. Thereby, more water
will be transported from cathode to anode due to the larger
concentration gradient and affects the performance signifi-
cantly. With respect to the heat transfer, the existence of water
in the reactant channels also impairs the convection.
As seen in Fig. 6, with the regular exhaust of water which is
accumulated at anode, the performance of the PEMFC stacked
is ameliorated then deteriorated periodically. Moreover, there
will be a temperature decrease once the exhaust solenoid
valve opens (indicated by dashed lines). And then the tem-
perature rises with time evolution until the next purge, expect
that of the bottom measuring points. As mentioned in Section
Cooling process, the heat is mainly removed to the sur-
roundings by the forced convection of the air. And the con-
vection can also be enhanced after a purge of anode
accumulated water. Because the water in the air flow channel
is reduced as well due to the instantly enlarged concentration
gradient between anode and cathode.
Particularly, the temperature variation rate of MP 5 in Cell 4
stands out and the culprit for it is still unknown.
The brief summary of the analysis above is given in Table 3.
The experimental results of εT are of important reference for
the research of transient performance of an open-cathode
PEMFC stack. Based on the analysis, different thermal con-
trol strategy can be applied depending on the operating
current.
Thermal uniformity
To compare the transient temperature distribution of
different cells and surfaces, the maximum temperature dif-
ferences are calculated based on the gauged data. The
maximum temperature differences among cells and surfaces
Overloaded operation
Reach steady state Fluctuation
no (t > 500s) fluctuates most
seriously at Cell 20
no top surface barely fluctuates
Fig. 8 e Specific exergy variation of the air.
are shown in Fig. 7. It's the mutual characteristic of these two
figures that the non-uniformity intensifies with the increase
of current. And the higher the current is, the larger the
disparity of DT between different cells/surfaces will be.
It can be seen in Fig. 7(a) that in the first three stages, the
temperature differences reach a relatively stable state after
elevation in about 40 s except that of Cell 4. Even though the
temperature of each point is still in an uptrend as seen in
Fig. 5. The DT of a single cell is a consequence of insufficient
in-plane heat conduction and the difference in reaction de-
gree. Once the load current is changed, the Qgen will vary
immediately resulting in a larger temperature gradient. In
these stages where the current is relatively low, the rebalance
can be built before the next current change. Further, Cell 20
has the most non-uniform temperature distribution due to its
poorest heat diffusion. Moreover, the DT of Cell 20 increases
sharply when the current is stepped to 35 A ðt ¼ 620sÞ and 40 A
ðt ¼ 740sÞ, and it fluctuates acutely since 620s. The reason for
this oscillation has been analyzed in Section Temperature
variation rate.
Fig. 7(b) illustrates the maximum temperature differences
of the top, middle and bottom surfaces of the PEMFC stack. It
can be seen from the graph that DT rises gradually until 380 s.
In the same time, the difference between surfaces is unap-
parent but without reaching a steady state. It indicates that
the variation of DT is independent on the position along the
vertical direction when the stack hasn't been affected by the
anode flooding. The thermal diffusion through different
PEMFCs is more difficult than the in-plane direction. So that it
takes longer time to achieve a new balance. Then, the
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 3 ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 3 4 8 9 e1 3 5 0 0
temperature differences of Stop and Smid are enlarged more
rapidly than that of Sbot since 380s. In other words, the bottom
surface has the best homogeneous characteristic. The reason
for that is the lowest reaction rate at the bottom part due to
the uneven flooding degree. Further, the DT of Stop doesn't
exhibit obvious fluctuation feature since 620s revealing that
the top of the stack is little influenced by the purge action
(anode flooding).
The comparison of maximum temperature difference is
listed in Table 4. To get better thermal uniformity among the
whole stack in the nominal operation, more attention should
be paid on the disparity of different cells in the design stage of
the cooling system. And anode flooding should be avoided
which is a vital factor of the increase of the maximum tem-
perature difference.
Exergy analysis
It's known from the analysis that the most dramatic fluctua-
tion of temperature appears in Cell 20. By contrast, the tem-
perature Cell 36 changes most smoothly. Therefore, Cell 20
and Cell 36 are selected for the exergy analysis to compare the
effect of different temperature variation forms. The exergy of
the reaction air is calculated by Eqs. (9)e(11). To simplify the
computation, assumptions are made: (i) the arithmetic
average of 6 measuring temperatures within the cell is taken
as the temperature of the air T; (ii) cp of each changing process
equals to the constant-pressure capacity at the arithmetic
average T of the process.
The results of the exergy analysis are shown in Fig. 8.
During normal operation, the exergies of the reaction air are
almost identical to each other. Meanwhile, in the overloaded
condition, the air exergy of Cell 36 is apparently higher. In
other words, there will be more usable work if the thermal
transition is more moderate. The results further verify the
importance of smooth transition of the temperature.
Conclusion
The transient thermal response of a 500 W open-cathode
PEMFC stack is investigated in this study. The results of the
research can be concluded as follows.
(1) At the initial stage, the local temperature is the most
crucial factor that affects the transient thermal
behavior of the stack. Then, at low current density, the
temperature change mainly depends on the membrane
hydration. The increase of temperature is smooth
where the output is close to the nominal power. The
anode flooding is dominant of the variation of temper-
ature at the overloaded stage and the middle-bottom
part of the stack will be the first to be influenced by
flooding.
(2) The maximum temperature difference is enlarged with
the increase of the current density. The DT of a single
cell can reach a steady state faster than the local tem-
perature in the low current stages. But the DT of a sur-
face can't become stable in the set time interval.
Moreover, there is larger disparity of DT between
13499
different cells as well as surfaces where the current is
higher.
(3) The reaction air will provide more available work
through a smooth transition.
The present study contributes to the optimization of both
the cooling strategy and thermal management of the open-
cathode stack in application. The thermal response to other
load changing pattern (successive decrease, alternatively
change or long-term operation) will be investigated in future
studies.
Acknowledgement
This research was supported by the National Nature Science
Foundation of China (21776095), the Guangzhou Science and
Technology Program (No. 201804020048), and Guangdong Key
Laboratory of Clean Energy Technology.
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