This technical brief reports new findings regarding the strong relationship between the temperature of the bipolar plates of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack and thermal conditions within the membranes of the stack. The unique feature of the study is the notion that bipolar plate temperature might be used as an indicator to identify optimal stack clamping pressures that lead to nearly isothermal conditions inside the stack. Uniform thermal (and humidity) conditions are expected to enhance fuel cell durability and reliability.

Issue Section:
Technical Briefs
Keywords:
plates (structures), proton exchange membrane fuel cells, reliability, temperature distribution, fuel cell, contact resistance
Topics:
Fuel cells, Membranes, Plates (structures), Pressure, Proton exchange membrane fuel cells, Reliability, Stress, Temperature, Contact resistance, Durability
1.
Fekrazad
,
N.
, and
Bergman
,
T. L.
, 2007 “
The Effect of Compressive Load on PEM Fuel Cell Stack Performance and Behavior
,”
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129
, pp.
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Crossref
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2.
Ihonen
,
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M.
, and
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G.
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Flooding of Gas Diffusion Backing in PEFCs
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(
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3.
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,
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Effect of Clamping Pressure on the Performance of a PEM Fuel Cell
,”
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Zhou
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Wu
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, 2007 “
Numerical Study on the Compression Effect of Gas Diffusion Layer on PEMFC Performance
,”
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5.
Hyunchul
,
J.
,
Meng
,
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, and
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A Single-Phase, Non-Isothermal Model for PEM Fuel Cells
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PEMFC Temperature Distribution Caused by Inhomogeneous Compression of GDL
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Al-Baghdadi
,
M. A. R. S.
, and
Al-Janabi
,
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, 2007, “
Influence of the Design Parameters in a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell on the Mechanical Behavior of the Polymer Membrane
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8.
Solasi
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,
Reifsnider
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K.
, and
Condit
,
D.
, 2007, “
On Mechanical Behavior and In-Plane Modeling of Constrained PEM Fuel Cell Membranes Subjected to Hydration and Temperature Cycles
,”
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Copyright © 2008
 by American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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