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The purpose of this paper is to simulate passive proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) for portable electronic devices by means of a non‐linear lumped circuit based on electrical, mass transfer and electro‐kinetic equations.

Electrical, mass transfer and electro‐kinetic equations are combined in order to derive a non‐linear lumped circuit. The dynamic circuit model is tested in realistic operating conditions.

An original equivalent circuit model for simulating the transient behavior of passive PEMFCs is proposed. The PEMFC is represented as a non‐linear equivalent circuit with controlled lumped parameters depending on pressure, temperature, hydration, and system capacity.

Lumped parameters are synthesized assuming a one‐dimensional fuel cell model since layer thicknesses are much smaller than other dimensions. Heat generation and transfer are not modeled even though lumped parameters depend on temperature.

The proposed circuit model can be implemented directly in circuit simulators for designing power management units needed to interface small‐passive PEMFCs and portable electronics such as PDAs, laptops, or mobile phones.

The fuel cell is represented as a non‐linear controlled generator whose parameters are derived directly from multiphysics equations rather than empirical relationships. The dynamic behaviour of PEMFCs can be simulated on completely different times scales, i.e. during transients or during the discharge phase.

This paper aims to evaluate corrosion behavior of bare and PbO₂-coated stainless steel 316L, as prospective candidates for bipolar plates, in simulated proton exchange membrane fuel cell’s (PEMFC’s) environment under operating potentials.

A set of potentiodynamic, as well as potentiostatic, electrochemical experiments was carried out under both anodic and cathodic potentials. Gathered data were analyzed via fast Fourier transform algorithm for further investigation. X-ray diffraction analysis was also used for determining coating characteristics upon completion of electrochemical experiments.

Results revealed that bare SS316L is a better candidate for bipolar plate material under anodic potential, as it is cathodically protected. However, PbO₂-coated SS316L is favorable under cathodic potential, as bare specimen will suffer localized corrosion in the form of pitting.

It would be of interest if all the experiments are carried out in a PEMFC stack.

This research strives to promote the use of electrochemical noise measurement for practical corrosion monitoring of coated bipolar plates in fuel cells.

Improving the corrosion resistance of bipolar plates will expedite commercialization of PEMFCs, which in turn will translate into a substantial reduction in carbon footprint.

This research strives to promote the use of electrochemical noise measurement for practical corrosion monitoring of coated bipolar plates in fuel cells.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the surface electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance of AISI 430 stainless steel (430 SS) as bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), a protective Nb-modified layer is formed onto stainless steel via the plasma surface diffusion alloying method. The effect of diffusion alloying time on electrochemical behavior and surface conductivity is evaluated.

In this work, the surface electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance of modified specimen are evaluated by the potentiodynamic and potentionstatic polarization tests. Moreover, the hydrophobicity is also investigated by contact angle measurement.

The Nb-modified 430 SS treated by 1.5 h (1.5Nb) presented a lower passivation current density, lower interfacial contact resistance and a higher hydrophobicity than other modified specimens. Moreover, the 1.5 Nb specimen presents a smoother surface than other modified specimens after potentionstatic polarization tests.

The effect of diffusion alloying time on electrochemical behavior, surface conductivity and hydrophobicity of modified specimen is evaluated. The probable anti-corrosion mechanism of Nb-modified specimen in simulated acid PEMFC cathode environment is presented.

This paper aims to investigate the oxygen transport characteristics in the electrolyte membrane of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), in particular, the water content dependence and the microscopic view of the molecular transport.

Molecular dynamics simulation is used to examine the oxygen transport characteristics in the electrolyte membrane of PEMFC that we have experimentally observed in our previous study.

Molecular dynamics simulation well predicts the diffusion coefficient of oxygen in the membrane. It was found that the oxygen molecules have preference in their transport passage that governs the property.

First attempt is to theoretically examine the experimentally observed water uptake dependence of the oxygen diffusion coefficient in membrane and to explain the mechanism.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of analysis of the transport gases and liquid water between the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and gas flow channel (GFC) of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). These results are then used to describe the effects of the GDL‐GFC interfacial conditions on the general performance of PEMFCs.

This analysis utilizes finite element analysis commercial codes to illustrate the transport of fluids. The gas transport data obtained from the solution are compared with the established works of others. The liquid transport processes are modeled using the Darcy equation coupled with a saturation‐capillary pressure function (the Leverett function) and assuming no phase change. In addition, the boundary conditions for the liquid transport equation are varied in order to show the extent of non‐uniformities at the GDL‐GFC interface.

Analysis shows that water dispersion from the GDL‐GFC interface extends across the GDL to its other side, and eventually reduces the performance of the PEMFC.

It is well known that CFD simulation of fuel cells is, in general, still facing significant challenges due to the limited understanding of the complex physical and chemical processes existing within the fuel cell. The model is now under further development to improve its capabilities and undergoing further validations.

The simulations can provide detailed information on some of the key fluid dynamics, physical and chemical/electro‐chemical processes that exist in liquid dispersion at the interface of GDL‐GFC in fuel cells which are critical for fuel cell design and optimization.

The simulation can be used to understand liquid dispersion at the interface of GDL‐GFC and provide and alternative to experimental investigations in order to improve the performance of fuel cell.

“the purpose of this study/paper” or “this study/paper aims to” in the Purpose section of the Abstract. The integration of distributed generation (DG) to the utility grid is yet another approach to provide reliable and secured power.

The significant concern in this contemporary world are the day-to-day increasing power demand, lack of energy and increasing environmental pollution, which are threatening the existence of living things.

The research focus here is to adequacy and security in the grid-integrated hybrid distributed generation (DG) having photovoltaic (PV) and proton exchange membrane fuel cell.

PV system is a clean source of generation and suitable for many applications. Photovoltaic cell captures the energy from solar irradiation. To track the maximum power from PV, perturb and observe method is used. As it is intermittent in nature, integrating PV with fuel cell makes the hybrid source more reliable. Power electronic interfacing devices are used to integrate this hybrid DG source to microgrid. The simulation of this grid-connected hybrid DG is performed using Matlab/Simulink environment.

Effective performance of a direct ethanol fuel cell (FC) stack depends on the satisfactory operation of its individual cells where it is always challenging to manage the temperature gradient, water flow and distribution of reactants. In that, the design of the bipolar fuel flow path plate plays a vital role in achieving the aforementioned parameters. Further, the bipolar plates contribute 80% of the weight and 30%–40% of its total cost. Aim of this study is to enhance the efficiency of fuel to energy conversion and to minimize the overall cost of production.

The authors have specifically designed, simulated and fabricated a standard 2.5 × 2.5 cm² active area proton exchange membrane (PEM) FC flow path plate to study the performance by varying the flow fields in a single ladder, double ladder and interdigitated and varying channel geometries, namely, half curve, triangle and rectangle.

Using the 3D PEMFC model and visualizing the physical and electrochemical processes occurring during the operation of the FCs resulted in a better-performing flow path plate design. It is fabricated by using additive manufacturing technology. In addition, the assembly of the full cell with the designed flow path plate shows about an 11.44% reduction in total weight, which has a significant bearing on its total cost as well as specific energy density in the stack cell.

Simultaneous optimization of multiple flow path parameters being carried out for better performance is the hallmark of this study which resulted in enhanced energy density and reduced cost of device production.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of partially blocking the cathode channel with the stair arrangement of obstacles on the performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell.

A numerical study is conducted by developing a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model.

As the angle of the stair arrangement increases, the performance of the fuel cell is reduced and the pressure drop is decreased. The use of four stair obstacles with an angle of 0.17° leads to higher power density and a lower pressure drop compared to the case with three rectangular obstacles of the same size and maximum height. The use of four stair obstacles with an angle of 0.34° results in higher power density and lower pressure drop compared to the case with two rectangular obstacles of the same size and maximum height.

Using the stair arrangement of obstacles as an innovation of the present work, in addition to improving the fuel cell’s performance, creates a lower pressure drop than the simple arrangement of obstacles.

Performance prediction of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been studied using a multiphysics-based numerical simulation. The simulated geometry was a simple channel, in which the multi species transportation in the porous electrodes and the coupled electrical current and potential distributions were modeled. The 3D simulations provide the cell performance curve and the fuel/oxidant concentration distributions along the feeding channel. To obtain the detailed flow field in the porous gas diffusion layer, a 2D simulation was also performed. The simulations were compared with the available experimental data for a single channel PEMFC and the comparisons are favorable.

The purpose of the proposed hybrid method aims to increase population efficiency, and a local search is used to further improve the value of the global best solution. An experimental observation suggests that the model’s statistical outcomes are more aligned with the real-time experimental findings.

A novel metaheuristic efficient hybrid algorithm, i.e. hybrid particle swarm optimization rat search algorithm, is introduced and applied for parameter extraction of hybrid energy system. This proposed hybrid method rules out the chances of local minima, hence enhancing the precision of the parametric estimation. The parameter extraction and error is calculated for the solar photovoltaic (PV)–fuel cell system using the proposed algorithm.

Nonparametric statistical tests are also conducted to indicate the findings of the outcome parameters using various metaheuristic algorithms. The proposed algorithm is better than the rest of the compared algorithms in the study.

The authors proposed a novel algorithm, and this proposed algorithm is implemented on hybrid solar PV and fuel cell-based system for parameter extraction. The nonparametric test results clearly suggest that the proposed algorithm is far more effective for parameter estimation of the test system.