Undergraduate Research Project Proposal

Development of Optimal Water Management System for a Proton Exchange Membrane

Fuel Cell (PEMFC)

Background and Motivation: A Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is a
promising, sustainable energy sources for clean energy and environmental future through many
applications including automotive, building, and electronic systems. However, poor water
management (humidity control) has significantly reduced PEMFC performance, where suffers
from limited proton conductivity in PEM by drying water or limited fuel supply by excessive
water in fuel system (flooding). Thus, the optimal water management system is crucial to
improve the performance. A main challenge in existing water management (humidification)
systems is inaccurate humidity control especially at the high humidity and temperature for the
optimal operating conditions in PEMFC. Humidified water often condenses before it supplies to
the desired place, which results in total failure of the humidity control. In this study, we develop
the accurate and robust water management system using a hydrophobic coating in the
humidification system to avoid such water-condensation issues.
Objectives: The objectives of the proposed research are two folds as follows.
a) To develop the accurate, robust, simple humidity control system for optimal water
management systems.
b) To successfully implement it to the optimal water management system in PEMFC.
Methodology: The basic principle of the humidity control system is to generate the water vapor
by flowing carrier gas through the saturated liquid, where water temperature controls the
humidity. The details are shown in Figure 1. The key is to produce the bubble size as small as
possible and to avoid any condensation before it supplies to the PEMFC. A stainless steel
cylinder was used as the humidity bottle while the other components were fabricated using the
same material. The flange and cap parts were machined using the CNC Mill and the Mastercam
software. After completing the assembly of the different components, the humidifier remains to
be tested for corrosion and gas leakage and further analysis needs to be done on the heat and
vapor transfer rates when it is finally ready to function with the fuel cell.









Figure-1

Expected outcome:
The developed humidifier will improve the water management system of PEMFC operating
system for optimal performance. Also, this system will be used for the various ex-situ
experiments to understand the role of the proton conductivity enhancement in presence of
graphene and gaseous fuel transport through the gas diffusion layer. The planned studies will
provide a useful guideline for the optimal material selection/development, and fuel cell
diagnostics. A successful working model would serve to contribute to the engineering
community and the society as a whole by significantly reducing fabrication costs and provide
cheaper alternatives as well as cut down pollution through the implementation of renewable
energy. Most importantly, I will learn the overall key engineering skills and perspectives from
this project including the engineering design, fabrication, characterization, and
evaluation/feedback. Also, the obtained hand-on experiences and communications (technical
writings/discussions) will be crucial to a first step for training myself to be a real engineer.