Derivation of Pumpless Reactant Recirculation System Based on Analogy Between Fluid Flow and Electrical Circuit for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

作者：Uno Masatoshi^*; Tanaka Koji

来源：IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 2014, 9(4): 360-369.

DOI：10.1002/tee.21980

• analogy
• fuel cell
• pumpless
• recirculation
• switched capacitor

A pumpless reactant recirculation system that offers several major advantages over conventional pump-or ejector-based recirculation systems is derived on the basis of the analogy between fluid flow and an electrical circuit. According to the electricity-fluid analogy, a fuel cell fluid system, including a cell and a reactant recirculation device, can be equivalently described in an electrical circuit model, in which voltage, current, and electrical capacitance correspond to pressure, reactant flow, and fluid volume, respectively, in a fluid flow. In the electrical circuit model, a switched capacitor (SC) circuit, a very popular electrical circuit, is incorporated as the recirculation device. The operation of the electrical circuit model of the recirculation system is mathematically generalized. Based on the analogy, the electrically described recirculation system using the SC is transformed into a fluid circuit, and the pumpless reactant recirculation system in a fluid flow that uses a flow controller and two check valves for reactant recirculation is derived. Experimental and simulation results in the fluid flow and electrical circuit model, respectively, were in good agreement, verifying that the electricity-fluid analogy and the operation of the derived pumpless recirculation system are appropriate. The experimental performance of a single cell in the derived pumpless recirculation system was stable and durable over 10 h, demonstrating that the water byproduct could be removed from the cell in the derived pumpless reactant recirculation system.

• 出版日期2014-7