Maintaining equal operating conditions for all cells in a fuel cell stack using an external flow distributor

This paper presents a novel fuel cell stack architecture that allows each fuel cell to work at the same condition, maintaining the same performance from each individual cell and creating a maximum power output from the cell stack. A fuel cell stack having four PEM fuel cells was fabricated to experimentally compare its performance when fuel and air supplying/distribution schemes are different. The performance of the fuel cell stack and individual cells in the stack is measured to achieve a detailed evaluation of the effect of the different fuel and air supplying schemes. Experimental data shows that non-uniform flow distribution to individual cells has a considerable influence on individual cell performance, which affects the power output of the fuel cell stack. The fuel cell stack with the novel approach of fuel and air feeding shows a better power output performance compared to a different fuel and air feeding approach to the fuel cell stack.

► We present a novel fuel cell stack architecture for maximizing power output. ► External flow distributors deliver fuel and air to individual cells uniformly. ► The fuel cell stack shows an excellent performance. ► Uniform distribute of fuel/air to cells is critical to a high performance of a stack.