Multistage polymer electrolyte fuel cells based on nonuniform cell potential distribution functions

In this paper, a novel multistage polymer electrolyte fuel cell concept is introduced according to which the cell potential is subject to a variation along the channel direction. A commonly used condition in which the cell potential is uniformly distributed along the flow direction is replaced herein by a generalized condition in which the cell potential is nonuniformly distributed along the flow direction. It is shown that the proposed multistage fuel cell concept involving nonuniform cell potential distribution functions allows to simultaneously generate electric power at various cell potentials without a reduction of the maximum electric cell power density. The proposed multistage fuel cell concept further allows for enhanced maximum electric cell power densities compared to the traditional concept involving a uniform cell potential distribution. An analytical model is used to perform quantitative calculations based on this concept. A conjugate gradient algorithm is implemented to optimize the cell potential distribution function along the flow direction.