Quantification of Liquid Water Saturation in a Transparent Single-Serpentine Cathode Flow Channel of PEM Fuel Cell by Using Image Processing

Abstract

The objective of this research is to quantify the water content on the cathode side in various PEM fuel cell operations. Itcan be revealed by direct visualization in an operational transparent single-serpentine PEM fuel cell. Images of liquid wateraccumulated inside the cathode flow channel were recorded by a digital camera to study water flooding in PEM fuel cell. The watercoverage area in the cathode flow channel was estimated by an image processing technique. The effects of oxygen flow rate, celltemperature and time development on the water flooding were studied. The results indicated that excessive low or high celltemperature caused water to flood into the PEM fuel cell. The increasing of oxygen flow rate can remove more liquid water out of thecathode flow channel. However, too high oxygen flow rate caused the insufficient water content to maintain the membrane in thehydrated state and the dramatic decrease of fuel cell’s performance. The water flooding did not appear in a single-serpentine cathodeflow channel when a transparent PEM fuel cell has operated within 40 minutes.