Experimental Investigation of Irreversibility of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

For an 11 W proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, the exergy analysis at different channel geometry and internal parameters such as temperature, pressure, and mass flow rate are investigated experimentally. The geometry of the cell is rectangular, elliptical, and triangular. A PEM fuel cell with 25 cm(2) active area and Nafion 117 membrane with 4 mg Pt cm (2) for the anode and cathode is employed as a membrane electrode assembly. The results show that when the geometry of the cell is rectangular, the irreversibility of the cell is at lower value and the exergy efficiency is at higher value. Also, the results show that with the increase of hydrogen, oxygen, and cell temperature, the exergy efficiencies of the cell increase and irreversibilities decrease. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4006045]