INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AMBIENT ENERGY, 2018

https://doi.org/10.1080/01430750.2018.1456959

Computational fluid dynamics study of 3-pass serpentine flow field configuration on

proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance
Venkateswarlu Velisala and G. Naga Srinivasulu
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Telangana, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

A 3-D PEM fuel cell model with 3-pass serpentine flow field was developed to analyse the performance Received 21 July 2017
of the fuel cell. Simulations were carried out in the commercial ANSYS FLUENT 15.0 software with species Accepted 15 March 2018
concentration on the anode side as H2 – 0.8, O2 – 0, H2 O – 0.2 and on the cathode side H2 – 0, O2 – 0.2, KEYWORDS
and H2 O – 0.1. Along with the performance of the cell, key parameters like pressure drop, hydrogen mass PEM fuel cell; 3-pass
fraction, oxygen mass fraction, liquid water activity and the membrane water content have been analysed. serpentine flow field; current
The results showed that when the cell was operated at a lower voltage of 0.4 V, i.e. a higher current density, density; membrane water
hydrogen and oxygen consumption rates are high as well as water production rate. Finally, the proposed content; cell performance
fuel cell model performance characteristics are compared with the available experimental data that shows
good agreement.

1. Introduction
The ever increasing energy demand, emission-free energy gen-
eration, and other ecological issues have encouraged many
researchers to look for advanced efficient energy conversion
technologies (Beicha and Zaamouche 2013). Within such per-
spective fuel cell systems may be considered as a good alter-
native due to practical merits such as the high-energy density,
superb dynamic response, low hostility to the environment, and
lightweight as well as easy and fast recharging via a replace-
ment or a refilled fuel cartridge (Velisala et al. 2015). Fuel cells
are classified based on the type of electrolyte materials (Larminie
and Dicks 2001). The commonly available fuel cell technolo-
gies include polymer electrolyte membrane (PEMFC), alkaline,
phosphoric acid, molten carbonate, and solid oxide based fuel
cells.
PEM fuel cells have numerous distinctive characteristics as
compared with other fuel cell types, such as moderately low
operating temperatures (around 80°C), high power density,
quick start, faster response, and high modularity makes them as
the most encouraging contender for future power generating
devices in applications such as automotive, distributed power
generation and compact electronic devices (Boettner et al. 2002;
Mehrpooya et al. 2015). Designing and building prototypes of
fuel cell are laborious and expensive (Hosseinzadeh 2012). The
alternative is modelling the fuel cell system for simulation, this
can permit the assessment of the fuel cell performance, lower-
ing the cost and time along the design stage and tests (Corrêa
et al. 2004). Berning et al. (2002) developed a complete 3-D
fuel cell model taking into account computational liquid ele-
ments approach to study the transport phenomena in the fuel
cell. Barreras et al. (2005) conducted both numerical and exper-
imental studies to analyse the flow distribution in a 50 cm2 area
flow field of a PEM fuel cell. With these studies they concluded
that non-homogeneous flow distribution in the flow channels
causes a low performance of the fuel cell. Lum and McGuirk
(2005) developed a steady-state, 3-D CFD model of polymer
electrolyte membrane (PEMFC) to carry out parametric stud-
ies and validated his model with the work of Shimpalee et al.
(1999). Carcadea et al. (2007) presented a 3-D CFD model to
study fluid flow in channels, species transport in porous lay-
ers, water management, and current generated. This model has
some limitations in understanding the complex physical and
chemical processes happening inside the cell. Jang et al. (2008)
also developed a 3-D numerical PEMFC model with conventional
flow field designs to investigate performance and transport phe-
nomena of the fuel cell. They found that serpentine flow field
performance is better than the Z-type and parallel flow fields.
Wang et al. (2009) developed 3-D PEM fuel cell models with
single and triple serpentine flow fields to study the effect of
the sub-rib convection on the performance at various channel
aspect ratios. Change in the channel aspect ratio has a mini-
mal effect on the performance of single serpentine flow field
and a significant effect on the performance of triple serpentine
flow field. Suresh et al. (2011) developed a new serpentine flow
field with enhanced cross-flow for PEMFC applications and car-
ried out both numerical and experimental studies. They have
reduced the pressure drops and achieved uniform distribution
of flow. Guo et al. (2014) developed a 3-D simulation model
with bio-inspired flow field designs and investigated the per-
formance of fuel cell both numerically and experimentally. They
concluded that the bio-inspired designs considerably increase
the cell performance by 20–25% compared to the conventional
designs. Khazaee and Sabadbafan (2016) numerically investi-
gated the effect of increasing the number of serpentine channels

CONTACT Venkateswarlu Velisala 2venkee@gmail.com; venkee.vel@nitw.ac.in

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