Sealing performance and mechanical behavior of PEMFCs sealing system based on thermodynamic coupling

The reliability of sealing system is closely related to the work performance of PEMFCs. The model of steel-strip PEMFCs is established in this paper, the stress-strain distribution of sealing system in single-cell and multi-cells structures under three different working temperature were investigated. Effects of compression ratio, fluid pressure, dislocation and dimension of gasket on the sealing performance and mechanical behavior of PEMFCs were studied. The results show that the sealing performances of single-cell and multi-cells structures are similar under different working temperatures. Temperature has a great influence on the von-Mises stress of sealing system and the deformation of MEA frame. The research results of single-cell can be extended to the multi-cells, but the influence of temperature can't be ignored. With the increasing of compression ratio, fluid pressure and dimension, the sealing performance also be improved. Excessive dislocation may aggravate the deformation of MEA frame. The high stress area appears inside cross section which is prone to cause seal failure and full cells collapse. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.