Bio-Inspired Design, Fabrication and Testing of Bipolar Plates for PEM Fuel Cells

该奖项的目的是利用生物灵感设计来提高质子交换膜燃料电池的功率密度。石墨复合双极板将仿照叶子结构设计复杂的流道，并使用选择性激光烧结制造，这是一种能够制造复杂设计的添加剂制造工艺。优化设计将基于数学流动模型，考虑到控制质量、动量、物种和电荷守恒。将进行实验以验证功率密度随压力分布的有限元分析的准确性。功率密度将与常规设计的双极板进行比较。如果成功，这项研究有望为质子交换膜燃料电池的设计和制造提供一种新的方法，使其具有更高效的燃料传输和水去除。这可能导致燃料电池技术在各种应用中更广泛地采用能源转换。

The objective of this award is to improve the power density of Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells using a bio-inspired design. Graphite composite bipolar plates will be designed with complex flow paths modeled after leaf structures and fabricated using selective laser sintering, an additive manufacturing process that enables manufacture of the complex designs. Optimization of the design will be based on mathematical flow models taking into account governing mass, momentum, species and charge conservation. Experiments will be conducted to verify accuracy of finite element analyses of power density versus pressure distribution. Power density comparisons will be made with bipolar plates of conventional design.If successful, this research is expected to yield a new approach to the design and manufacture of Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells that will have more efficient fuel transport and water removal. This could lead to more widespread adoption of fuel cell technologies for energy conversion across a variety of applications.