Development of a small DMFC bipolar plate stack for portable applications

Abstract The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is regarded as a promising candidate in portable electronic power applications. Bipolar plate stacks were systematically studied by controlling the operating conditions, and by adjusting the stack structure design parameters, to develop more commercial DMFCs. The findings indicate that the peak power of the stack is influenced more strongly by the flow rate of air than by that of the methanol solution. Notably, the stack performance remains constant even as the channel depth is decreased from 1.0 to 0.6 mm, without loss of the performance in each cell. Furthermore, the specific power density of the stack was increased greatly from ∼60 to ∼100 W l −1 for stacks of 10 and 18 cells, respectively. The current status of the work indicates that the power output of an 18-cell short stack reaches 33 W in air at 70 °C. The outer dimensions of this 18-cell short stack are only 80 mm × 80 mm × 51 mm, which are suitable for practical applications in 10–20 W DMFC portable systems.

[1]  Chunshan Song,et al.  Fuel processing for low-temperature and high-temperature fuel cells , 2002 .

[2]  C. Chen,et al.  Performance of an air-breathing direct methanol fuel cell , 2003 .

[3]  Jaesung Han,et al.  Direct methanol fuel-cell combined with a small back-up battery , 2002 .

[4]  Chenggang Xie,et al.  Development of a 2 W direct methanol fuel cell power source , 2004 .

[5]  Addition of non-reacting gases to the anode flow field of DMFCs leading to improved performance , 2004 .

[6]  Bongdo Lee,et al.  Analysis of DMFC/battery hybrid power system for portable applications , 2004 .

[7]  Detlef Stolten,et al.  Development of a compact 500 W class direct methanol fuel cell stack , 2002 .

[8]  Joan M. Ogden,et al.  A comparison of hydrogen, methanol and gasoline as fuels for fuel cell vehicles: implications for vehicle design and infrastructure development , 1999 .

[9]  S. Srinivasan,et al.  International activities in DMFC R&D: status of technologies and potential applications , 2004 .

[10]  Emanuel Peled,et al.  Water-neutral micro direct-methanol fuel cell (DMFC) for portable applications , 2003 .

[11]  Joyce Smith Cooper,et al.  Design analysis of PEMFC bipolar plates considering stack manufacturing and environment impact , 2004 .

[12]  J. W. Van Zee,et al.  The effects of compression and gas diffusion layers on the performance of a PEM fuel cell , 1999 .

[13]  Mark A.J Cropper,et al.  Fuel cells: a survey of current developments , 2004 .

[14]  B. Höhlein,et al.  Fuel cells for mobile and stationary applications—cost analysis for combined heat and power stations on the basis of fuel cells , 2003 .

[15]  In-Hwan Oh,et al.  Recent progress in passive direct methanol fuel cells at KIST , 2004 .

[16]  Peng Yang,et al.  Fabrication of electrocatalyst layers for direct methanol fuel cells , 2005 .

[17]  T. Nguyen,et al.  A liquid water management strategy for PEM fuel cell stacks , 2003 .

[18]  D. Chu,et al.  Comparative studies of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stack and single cell , 1999 .

[19]  Rongzhong Jiang,et al.  Stack design and performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells , 2001 .

[20]  J. Scholta,et al.  Development and performance of a 10 kW PEMFC stack , 2004 .