Experimental optimization of the pem fuel cell performance

The proton exchange membrane fuel cell, which has the advantages of high efficiency, low noise and free from pollution, is a kind of energy conversion facility. In this paper, the DOE (design of experiment) method and the variance analysis are applied to investigate the effect of flow field structure, operating temperature, cathode and anode relative humidity, and cathode and anode flow rate on the performance of the fuel cell, and to optimize the performance of the fuel cell. The maximum power and the highest efficiency are chosen as the performance indicators. The experimental results show that the flow field structure and the operating temperature have a significant effect on the maximum power while the flow field structure and the anode flow rate have a significant effect on the highest efficiency. For the fuel cell studied, the optimum combination of the above factors is, serpentine flow plate, operating temperature at 70℃, cathode relative humidity at 0%, anode relative humidity at 100%, cathode flow rate at 0.263 SLPM and anode flow rate at linebreak 0.525 SLPM.