Experimental and thermodynamic investigation of a triangular channel geometry PEM fuel cell at different operating conditions

In this study, the exergy analysis of a 11 KW triangular channel geometry PEM fuel, due to some parameters such as; input oxygen temperature (TO2TO2), input hydrogen temperature (TH2TH2), cell temperature (TcellTcell), input pressure (P), oxygen flow rate (ṁO2) and hydrogen flow rate (ṁH2), is investigated experimentally. A series of experiments are carried out to investigate the influence of the above parameters on the polarization curve and irreversibility under normal conditions. A PEM fuel cell with a 25 cm2 active area and a Nafion 117 membrane with 4 mg Pt cm−2 for the anode and cathode is employed as a membrane electrode assembly. The results show that an increase in the inlet temperature of oxygen and hydrogen, cell temperature and inlet pressure can enhance cell performance, exergy efficiency and reduce the irreversibilities of the cell.