Water management diagnostics of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Water management presents a critical challenge to fuel cell technology. A major obstacle is the lack of in situ experimental data In this work, a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used as a diagnostic tool to study water distribution in an operating fuel cell and discover unexpected water transport phenomena. For the first time, quantitative water distribution data is gathered for the flow fields of an operating Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell.;Several critical discoveries are made. First, experimental data verifies that wavy-stratified flow is the dominate flow regime in the cathode flow channels. This is in contrast to the common literature assumption that assumes the slug flow regime A fuel cell design that assumes the wrong water flow regime can suffer significant issues. Consequences include reduction in the fuel cell's freeze resistance, degraded catalyst stability, and poor stack stability and performance.;A second discovery is experimental evidence for the eruptive transport by hydraulic pressure mechanism for water transport through the diffusion layer. This is the first experimental validation of this transport theory from an operating fuel cell with realistic surface characteristics. By understanding the diffusion layer transport mechanisms, new diffusion layers can be designed to better control water management.;A final finding is that surface defects in the flow field impact the water distribution pattern. To the author's knowledge, this is the first time the importance of flow field surface quality is considered, and its impact is found to be profound. In our system we find that defects act as 'sticking' points on the flow channel bottom, creating water waves that do not exhaust from the fuel cell. These stuck waves increase the pressure drop within the fuel cell, as well as reducing its freeze resistance, catalyst stability, and stack stability.