A study of numerical analysis for PEMFC using a multiphysics program and statistical method

This study utilizes a numerical analysis of the PEMFC unit cell in which the electrode area is 25 cm2. The calculation is carried out by a multiphysics program called COMSOL. Water concentration distribution, hydrogen concentration distribution, and transport phenomena were calculated simultaneously. The resulting data from COMSOL are qualitatively expressed as images in many cases. However, a statistical method was proposed to analyze image data quantitatively and more precisely. The resulting data describing the water distribution and hydrogen concentration were exported and shown to have a normal distribution. The data were clearly identified using maximum, minimum, average, variance, skewness, and kurtosis values. The voltage ranges, where two kurtoses are approximately −1 for data of both the anode hydrogen concentration (AHC) and cathode water concentration (CWC), are similar to the voltage range of the ohmic loss section of PEMFC. In conclusion, the operating reference voltage of PEMFC was selected using the statistical analysis values of the AHC and CWC.