In-operando water visualization in fuel cells

由于所有部门对零排放运输系统的需求日益迫切，氢和燃料电池行业目前在全球范围内获得了显著的发展势头。然而，燃料电池电动汽车的大规模商业化仍然需要在其在消费市场扩散之前大幅降低成本。实现这一成本降低的途径是在更高的功率密度下运行燃料电池，从而减少其总体占地面积。然而，这种增益被较高的出水量所抵消，因此有效地去除水变得至关重要。因此，本提案的目标是确定运行中的燃料电池多孔介质中液态水的总体分布。这项工作利用了西蒙弗雷泽大学和巴拉德电力系统之间长期的大学-工业燃料电池研究合作伙伴关系。设想产生新结果的方法是利用x射线计算机断层扫描和专门设计的x射线透明装置来可视化燃料电池中多个相关长度尺度的液态水。所有结果将与Ballard共享，并根据具体结果，提出减轻或延迟水淹的燃料电池设计策略，从而提高燃料电池的性能和耐久性。加拿大将从几个方面获益；最值得注意的是，通过将知识和技术转移到巴拉德，巴拉德是燃料电池开发和制造的全球领导者，有能力在全球市场上利用项目成果实现零排放移动。

The hydrogen and fuel cell industry is currently gaining significant momentum worldwide due to the increasingly urgent need for zero-emission transportation systems across all sectors. Large-scale commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles, however, still requires significant cost reductions prior to their diffusion within the consumer market. A route to achieving this cost reduction is to operate fuel cells at higher power density and thus reducing their overall footprint. However, this gain is offset by the higher rate of water production and its efficacious removal becomes crucial. The objective addressed in this proposal is therefore to determine the overall liquid water distribution in the porous media of an operating fuel cell. This work leverages a long-standing university-industry fuel cell research partnership between Simon Fraser University and Ballard Power Systems. The approach envisioned to yield novel results is to utilize X-ray computed tomography and specially designed X-ray transparent setups to visualize liquid water across multiple length scales of relevance in fuel cells. All results will be shared with Ballard and depending on the specific outcomes, fuel cell design strategies to mitigate or delay flooding and hence improve fuel cell performance and durability will be suggested. The benefits to Canada will be accrued in several ways; most notably through knowledge and technology transfer to Ballard, a world leader in fuel cell development and manufacturing that has the capacity to exploit the project outcomes across worldwide markets for zero-emission mobility.