A novel approach to determine the in-plane thermal conductivity of gas diffusion layers in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Heat transfer through the gas diffusion layer (GDL) is a key process in the design and operation of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The analysis of this process requires determination of the effective thermal conductivity. This transport property differs significantly in the through-plane and in-plane directions due to the anisotropic micro-structure of the GDL.A novel test bed that allows separation of in-plane effective thermal conductivity and thermal contact resistance in GDLs is described in this paper. Measurements are performed using Toray carbon paper TGP-H-120 samples with varying polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) content at a mean temperature of 65–70 °C. The measurements are complemented by a compact analytical model that achieves good agreement with experimental data. The in-plane effective thermal conductivity is found to remain approximately constant, k ≈ 17.5 W m−1 K−1, over a wide range of PTFE content, and its value is about 12 times higher than that for through-plane conductivity.

Research highlights▶ We measure the in-plane thermal conductivity of gas diffusion layers in fuel cells. ▶ We develop a compact analytical model for the in-plane thermal conductivity. ▶ In-plane thermal conductivity remains almost unchanged over a range of PTFE content. ▶ In-plane thermal conductivity is 12 times higher than through-plane conductivity.