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The effect of cell orientations and environmental conditions on the performance of a passive DMFC single cell

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Abstract

A single cell passive air-breathing liquid feed direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is designed and fabricated. Furthermore, the effects of cell orientation and environmental conditions such as temperature and relative humidity on the performance of such passive DMFC are tested experimentally. The obtained results indicate that both environmental temperature and relative humidity have significant effects on the performance of fabricated fuel cell. The experimental data contained within this work shows that under lower relative humidity and higher temperature, the passive air-breathing direct methanol fuel cell has higher power output and better performance. According to experimental results, flooding has a vital role on the cell performance in various relative humidity and temperatures. The results also show that cell orientation has a strong effect on the performance of passive DMFC. The best power output and performance were achieved under vertical orientation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, KN Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Sasan Yousefi

  2. Fuel Cell Research Technology Group and Mechanical Engineering Department, Babol University of Technology, Babol, Iran

    Sasan Yousefi, Mohsen Shakeri & Koroush Sedighi

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Babol university of Technology, Babol, Iran

    Mohsen Shakeri & Koroush Sedighi

Authors
  1. Sasan Yousefi
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  2. Mohsen Shakeri
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  3. Koroush Sedighi
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Correspondence to Sasan Yousefi.

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Yousefi, S., Shakeri, M. & Sedighi, K. The effect of cell orientations and environmental conditions on the performance of a passive DMFC single cell. Ionics 19, 1637–1647 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-013-0889-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-013-0889-y

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