The effect of cathode channel blockages on the enhanced mass transfer and performance of PEMFC

Highlights: • Models of PEMFCs with different cathode channel blockages are established. • The flow-guide part and the suppression part of blockages are proposed and discussed. • The dimensionless blockage length is proposed and discussed. The design of flow field has a great influence on the mass transfer and performance of PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) and lots of research works focus on this area. In this paper, 3D PEMFC models with a single straight channel are established to investigate the effect of blockages on mass transfer and performance. The influence of cross section shapes of blockages and dimensionless blockage length are discussed. Results show that cross section shapes of blockages have a great impact on the enhancement of mass transfer in PEMFC. The flow-guide part and the suppression part should occur together to enhanced the mass transfer with the flow-guide part upstream and the part suppression downstream. The ratio of the single blockage length to the channel length and the ratio of the blockage length to the spacing length also have a great impact on the enhancement of mass transfer in PEMFC. The PEMFC could obtain a superior performance as the ratio of the blockage length to the spacing length and the ratio of the total block length to the channel length are 0.5 and 30%, respectively.