I-Corps: Bio-Inspired Flow Field Designs for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells

燃料电池是一项很有前途的技术，可以减少对化石燃料的依赖，减少污染，同时提高能源效率。然而，燃料电池技术还没有完全成熟，仍然面临着几个技术挑战。通过模仿树叶和肺部中发现的自然流场的设计，从而有效地分配营养物质，密苏里州S公司已经设计并测试了仿生流场。通过减少现有流场设计中常见的浓度损失，仿生流场改进了燃料电池的性能。这种流动技术已被证明可以大幅提高燃料电池的能效，与内燃机等传统能源转换装置相比，燃料电池的能效已经更高。这将导致更低的能源消耗和资金节省。此外，这将大大减少温室气体排放和其他污染物，如氮氧化物。在i-Corps计划的过程中，将探讨与该技术商业化的实际方面相关的挑战。预计在发现潜在客户后，该团队将能够进行技术转让。在树叶和肺部发现的生物流场已经进化成有效地分配养分，同时将所需的生物工作量降至最低。以生物为灵感的燃料电池流场设计模仿了自然流场的设计。它们能够减少在传统流场中发现的质量传输损失，这些损失发生在反应物分布和燃料电池产品移除期间。这导致燃料电池的峰值功率密度显着增加。实验室原型试验结果证实了模拟研究表明，与现有的常规流场设计相比，仿生流场在降低输送损失和除水方面具有优势。通过将商用燃料电池堆中的流场替换为仿生的流场设计，燃料电池产品的峰值功率密度预计将增加30%。美国国家科学基金会i-Corps团队希望探索聚合物电解质膜(PEM)燃料电池的生物灵感流场设计商业化的途径。该团队将与商业燃料电池开发商合作，克服与该创新的商业采用的实际方面相关的挑战，并调查燃料电池开发商采用仿生流场设计的意愿和适宜性。该团队将通过直接联系公司、解释创新并使用实验室原型演示结果来实现这一点。仿生流场代表着燃料电池技术的一大步。它们最终可能成为燃料电池和类似能源转换设备中反应物分布的最佳解决方案。燃料电池在固定和运输应用中有各种利基市场。改善燃料电池的性能对于提高能源部门的整体效率、减少对化石燃料的依赖和减少污染至关重要。随着安装燃料电池的数量每年都在增加，预计流场设计的这种改进将导致更广泛的清洁电力应用。

Fuel cells are a promising technology to reduce dependence on fossil fuel and reduce pollution while increasing energy efficiency. However, fuel cell technology is not fully mature and still faces several technical challenges. By mimicking the designs of natural flow fields found in leaves and lungs, which have evolved to distribute nutrients efficiently, bio-inspired flow fields have been designed and tested at Missouri S&T. By reducing the concentration losses common to existing flow field designs, bio-inspired flow fields lead to improved fuel cell performance. Such flow technologies have been demonstrated to substantially increase the energy efficiency of fuel cells, which are already more efficient compared to conventional energy conversion devices such as internal combustion engines. This would result in lower energy consumption and money savings. Furthermore, this would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen. The challenges related to the practical aspects for commercialization of this technology will be explored during the course of the I-Corps program. It is expected that the team will be able to pursue a technology transfer after discovery of potential customers is conducted.Biological flow fields, which are found in leaves and lungs, have evolved to effectively distribute nutrients while minimizing the amount of biological work needed. Bio-inspired designs for fuel cell flow fields mimic the design of natural flow fields. They are able to reduce the mass transport losses found in conventional flow fields that occur during the distribution of reactants and removal of products from fuel cells. This leads to a significant increase in the peak power density of fuel cells. Laboratory prototype testing results confirm simulation studies that bio-inspired flow fields are superior in reduction of transport losses and water removal compared to existing conventional flow field designs. By replacing the flow fields in commercially available fuel cell stacks with bio-inspired flow field designs, fuel cell products are expected to experience up to a 30% increase in peak power density. The NSF I-Corps team would like to explore the pathways towards the commercialization of bio-inspired flow field designs for poymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The team will work with commercial fuel cell developers to overcome challenges related to the practical aspects for commercial adoption of the innovation and investigate the willingness and suitability of fuel cell developers to adopt the bio-inspired flow field designs. The team will do so by directly contacting companies, explaining the innovation, and demonstrating the results using a laboratory prototype. Bio-inspired flow fields represent a big step in fuel cell technology. They could end up being the best solution to reactant distribution in fuel cells and similar energy conversion devices. Fuel cells have a variety of niches in stationary and transportation applications. Improving the performance of fuel cells is critical to increasing the overall efficiency of the energy sector, reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, and reducing pollution. With the number of installed fuel cells growing each year, it is expected that such an improvement in flow field design will lead to broader adaptation of cleaner power applications.