Affiliation:
1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716
2. Gore Fuel Cell Technologies, Elkton, MD 21922
Abstract
Durability of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) is a major technical barrier to the commercial viability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) for stationary and transportation applications. In order to reach Department of Energy objectives for automotive PEMFCs, an operating design lifetime of at least 5000h over a broad temperature range is required. Reaching these lifetimes is an extremely difficult technical challenge. Though good progress has been made in recent years, there are still issues that need to be addressed to assure successful, economically viable, long-term operation of PEM fuel cells. Fuel cell lifetime is currently limited by gradual degradation of both the chemical and hygro-thermomechanical properties of the membranes. Eventually the system fails due to a critical reduction of the voltage or mechanical damage. However, the hygro-thermomechanical loading of the membranes and how this effects the lifetime of the fuel cell is not understood. The long-term objective of the research is to establish a fundamental understanding of the mechanical processes in degradation and how they influence the lifetime of PEMFCs based on perfluorosulfuric acid membrane. In this paper, we discuss the finite element models developed to investigate the in situ stresses in polymer membranes.
Subject
Mechanical Engineering,Mechanics of Materials,Energy Engineering and Power Technology,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Reference23 articles.
1. Benziger, J. B., and Kevrekidis, I. G., 2003, “Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Reactors,” AIChE Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
2. Portable Fuel Cell Charger with Integrated Hydrogen Generator;Bossel
3. DOE Multi-Year Research, “Development and Demonstration Plan Planned Activities for 2003–2010 (Draft 6/3/03),” p. 7, Section 3.4.4, available at ⟨http://www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/mypp/⟩.
4. Water and Thermal Management in Solid-Polymer-Electrolyte Fuel Cells;Fuller;J. Electrochem. Soc.
5. Stanic, V.
, 2004, “Mechanism of Pin-hole Formation in Membrane Electrode Assemblies for PEM Fuel Cells,” 4th International Symposium on Proton Conducting Membrane Fuel Cells, October.
Cited by
118 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献