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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/hmt

Fixed air flow-rate selection by considering the self-regulating

function of low power air-cooled PEMFC stack
Yuxi Song a,b, Caizhi Zhang a,∗, Aditya Deshpande b, Kaifeng Tan b,c, Ming Han b,∗
a
School of Automotive Engineering; The State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmissions; Chongqing Automotive Collaborative Innovation Centre,
Chongqing University, Chongqing, China 400044
b
Clean Energy Research Center, Temasek Polytechnic, 529757, Singapore
c
School of Electrical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, it is found that the air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has a self-
Received 16 January 2020 regulating function in terms of its thermal and water balances within the fuel cell. Such a function
Revised 28 March 2020
enables the fuel cell’s operation to be stable and efficient without any electronic controlling circuit to
Accepted 7 April 2020
control the operating parameters. A small air-cooled PEMFC stack (15 cells with a rate power of 60 W)
integrated with an axial fan is used for this experimental study to verify the self-regulating feature. The
Keywords: results show that the air-cooled open-cathode PEMFC stack can run stably and efficiently under a wide
Proton exchange membrane fuel cell range of load currents at a fixed air flow rate. The best fuel cell performance and maximum system net
(PEMFC) power output are achieved at an air flow of 55.7 SLPM. To further validate the results, the temperature
Fan power
distribution and cell voltage distribution of the stack are simultaneously measured under different loads.
Air flow
The results demonstrate that the temperature and cell voltage of the stack are evenly distributed at the
Fuel cell performance
Temperature distribution air flow of 55.7 SLPM. The present study may provide guidance in the design of a cooling subsystem of a
small and compact fuel cell system incorporating an air-cooled open-cathode PEMFC.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction wear of the fan will increase, reducing the mechanical efficiency
and lifetime of the fan. Therefore, the selection of fan power/air
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) operating on flow is an important aspect in the construction of a low power
hydrogen offer the possibility of zero-emission power generation range open-cathode fuel cell system.
and are therefore considered as a prospective alternative to present Several studies have investigated the cooling capability and its
energy sources [1,2]. Open-cathode fuel cell systems use forced air- control of the cooling fan in an open-cathode fuel cell system. In
convection generated by a DC fan to deliver oxygen to the cath- references [9–13], segmented predict negative feedback control, in-
ode and also to remove the heat generated by the electrochemi- cremental PID control, multiple-input-multiple-output fuzzy con-
cal reaction [3,4]. Generally, it is low power (e.g. less than 1 kW) trol, extremum seeking control, and fuzzy control were adopted to
and is widely used in portable applications and unmanned aerial manage the fuel cell’s temperature. For the control of the fan, the
vehicles due to its simplified cooling design and low mass [5,6]. relative humidity of hydrogen, the stack’s current, voltage change
When designing the air-cooling system for a low power fuel cell rate, derivative of temperature error [11,13], actual/optimal temper-
system, two aspects must be taken into account. Firstly, since the ature, difference of optimum temperature and actual temperature
main parasitic power of an air-cooled open-cathode PEMFC comes [9,10,12], etc., were considered as the controller’s inputs to real-
from the cooling fan, the driving power of the fan should be mini- ize the optimal working temperature of the fuel cell and thus the
mized while providing sufficient air flow for both stack cooling and best PEMFCs performance. To address the severe effects of flood-
oxygen supply, as reported by Meyer et al. [7]. Secondly, according ing in air-breathing PEMFCs, Fabian et al. [14] introduced a thin
to Sasmito et al. [8], the fan needs to operate in its optimal op- hydrophilic and electrically conductive wick between the current
erating region, i.e. at relatively low static pressure drops and high collector and the cathode surface to absorb and redistribute the
flow rates. Otherwise, the input power, noise level and component water on the cathode side. Although the aforementioned studies
can improve the performance of PEMFCs, additional control strate-
gies or complex fuel cell designs are needed to manage the heat
∗
Corresponding authors. transfer and water transport in fuel cells.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C. Zhang), [email protected] (M. Han).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2020.119771
0017-9310/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Y. Song, C. Zhang and A. Deshpande et al., Fixed air flow-rate selection by considering the self-regulating func-
tion of low power air-cooled PEMFC stack, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
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Another way to design the cooling system for an open-cathode

fuel cell system may be based on the self-regulating function of the
fuel cell stack. This could avoid the large, heavy, costly and com-
plex cooling system design. The behaviour of the self-regulating
function of a fuel cell stack operating at a certain output power
is as follows: At a low flow rate of cooling air, the temperature of
the fuel cell stack may increase due to the incomplete discharge of
the generated heat, resulting in higher reaction kinetics and better
mass transport [15,16]; while a high flow rate of the cooling air
may reduce the temperature of the fuel cell, which is detrimen-
tal to the fuel cell performance. However, the humidity, and there-
fore conductivity, in the membrane may be improved because the
generated water tends to condense at low temperatures [17,18].
This self-regulating phenomenon in fuel cells suggests that an air-
cooled fuel cell stack has an adaptive ability to balance their per-
formance according to the flow rate of cooling air and load vari-
ations within a certain range. It is similar to the human body’s
response to environmental changes. Thus, with the proper selec-
tion of the air flow rate, it is possible to ensure both sufficient Fig. 1. Open-cathode stack used in the experiments.
stack cooling and oxygen supply, while also avoiding water flood-
ing and membrane dehydration [19]. Rosa et al. [20] experimen- Table 1
Specifications of the fuel cell stack.
tally found that the stack exhibited an optimal performance within
its operating current range at a fan voltage of 5 V, but the par- Parameter Value
asitic power causing by the fan was not taken into account in Power output 0–60 W
their study. Meyer et al. [7] proposed different operating proto- Current output 0–7 A
cols based on electro-thermal performance maps to achieve the Operating voltage 7.5–14.5 V
system self-sustainable operation, but the stack’s temperature and Operating temperature 0–65 °C
Size of the stack 70 mm × 30 mm × 38.5 mm
voltage uniformity were not validated. López-Sabirón et al. [21] re-
Cell number 15
ported that the proper fan’s/fans’ selection provided a cooling air Active electrode area 8 cm2
rate that perfectly adapted the variation in the power generated Hydrogen inlet pressure 0.5–2.5 bar
by the stack within a suitable range, and when the current in- Hydrogen purity 99.999%
tensity of the stack increased, the fans’ working regimes should
also change. From references [7,20,21], it can be found that the Table 2
air-cooled PEMFC has a self-regulating function if it works in a Specifications of PFB0412EHN DC blade fan.
limited current load range. Moreover, the self-regulating function Parameter Value
needs to consider the parasitic power of the fan and the voltage
Rated voltage 12 VDC
uniformity of the stack to optimize the design of the open-cathode
Operating voltage 10.8–13.2 VDC
PEMFC system and verify that the stack could work properly with Input current 0.5–0.6 A
the self-regulating function. Max. air flow (at zero static pressure) 0.618 (min. 0.556) m3 /min
In this study, experimental studies were conducted based on a Speed 16000 ± 10% R.P.M
low power air-cooled open-cathode PEMFC with 15 cells to select Dimension 40 mm × 40 mm × 28 mm

an appropriate and fixed air flow rate for the fuel cell stack. The
selected air flow allowed the stack to operate stably and efficiently
over a wide range of load variations without the necessity of addi- The test rig is shown in Fig. 2. An electronic load (PLZ1004WB,
tional temperature control strategies other than the air-flow gener- KIKUSUI, with an accuracy of ± (0.2% of set) / ± (0.2% of set)) was
ated by the fan. The influences of fan power on the fuel cell perfor- used to simulate an external load and simultaneously log the data
mance from the perspectives of the stack voltage, stability, and the (voltage, current and power). An infrared thermal imager (Fluke
system net power were analysed. After determining the suitable Ti400, with an accuracy of 2%) and its software, SmartViewTM,
air flow, the temperature distribution along the anode channel and were used to measure the temperature distribution of the stack
the cell series direction on the surface of the fuel cell, and the cell surface. A valve was used to purge the accumulated water ev-
voltage were measured to verify that the selected fan could guar- ery 10 s for 1 s at the anode side of the stack. Hydrogen (with
antee the temperature and voltage uniformity. a purity of 99.999%) without any humidification was supplied to
the fuel cell after passing through a pressure regulator. A solenoid
valve was located at the outlet of the anode for purging. A DC
2. Experiment fan (PFB0412EHN, specifications shown in Table 2) was used to
feed oxygen and remove excess heat from the fuel cell. The fan
2.1. Experimental setup was mounted on the stack and operated in blow mode to reduce
the parasitic power consumption because the air flow generated in
The air-cooled open-cathode PEMFC stack (DP-S-8, as shown in blow mode is greater than that in suction mode [22]. The power
Fig. 1) was purchased from Duralite Power Pte Ltd. It consisted of consumed by the fan was supplied and controlled by a DC power
15 cells in series with an active area of 8 cm2 . Metallic bipolar supply.
plates grooved with parallel flow fields were used as the backbone
of the PEMFC system. The open structure of the cathode flow field 2.2. Experimental scheme
was used to supply ambient air to the fuel cell while also remov-
ing heat and water. The other relative parameters of the stack are Six air flow rates (Table 3) were selected by changing the fan’s
clarified in Table 1. operating voltage from 5.5 V to 8 V with a step of 0.5 V. The air

Please cite this article as: Y. Song, C. Zhang and A. Deshpande et al., Fixed air flow-rate selection by considering the self-regulating func-
tion of low power air-cooled PEMFC stack, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
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Fig. 2. (a) Schematic of the test rig and (b) the experiment setup.

Table 3 3. Results and discussion

Experimental cases.

Case No. Air flow (SLPM) Fan operating voltage (V) Configuration 3.1. Output characteristic curves of the stack in different testing cases
Case 1 48.29 5.5 1.08 W fan & stack
Case 2 55.71 6 1.29 W fan & stack To investigate the influence of air flow on the performance of
Case 3 63.12 6.5 1.5 W fan & stack the fuel cell stack under varying current loads, experiments were
Case 4 69.85 7 1.72 W fan & stack carried out according to cases shown in Table 3. In each case, the
Case 5 77.33 7.5 2 W fan & stack
operating current of the fuel cell was started at 0.5 A and followed
Case 6 86.31 8 2.26 W fan & stack
by a progression from 1 A to 7 A in steps of 1 A. In all tests, the
fuel cell performance was measured for approximately 60 min at
each current step to obtain sufficient data. The periodic fluctua-
tions exhibited by these three curves are caused by the periodic
purging, which discharges the nitrogen, impurities, and water in
the anode channel [23,24].
Fig. 4 (a) shows the transient response of the stack voltage,
while Fig. 4 (b) shows the average stack voltage in each case ob-
tained from Fig. 4 (a). From both figures, it is observed that the fuel
cell stack demonstrated the best performance with the air flow
provided in Case 2. Additionally, in Case 3 and Case 4, the perfor-
mance of the fuel cell stack is similar to the performance of Case
2 at low currents (e.g. 0.5 A, 1 A, and 2 A). For Case 1, the stack
yielded a relatively lower performance than that of Case 2, Case 3
and Case 4, possibly caused by the insufficient removal of the heat
generated in the fuel cell at low air flow. As shown in the studies
of Atan et al. [25] and Jung et al. [26], the membrane is sensitive to
changes in its internal moisture level. Excessive heat leads to mem-
brane dehydration and consequently increases the charge trans-
port resistance and performance loss. Strahl et al. [12] also found
that the increase in temperature would result in the loss of active
Fig. 3. Air flow for increasing fan power. sites. This is because the electrolyte material in the catalyst layer
needs water to transfer the H+ ions to the three-phase-contacts
between the reactant gas, electrolyte, and electrode catalyst. In an-
flow and the corresponding fan power were measured and shown other study, Chen et al. [27] experimentally found that the ohmic
in Fig. 3. It can be seen that the air flow increases with the fan resistance increased from 0.0171 Ohm cm2 to 0.0183 Ohm cm2
power and the lowest air flow, 48.29 SLPM, is generated at a fan when the fuel cell temperature increased from 65 °C to 80 °C. In
power of 1.08 W (Case 1). Even in Case 1, the oxygen stoichiometry the long run, the high resistance will further increase the cell’s
is as high as 27.7 when the stack was operated at the maximum temperature, resulting in greater performance loss or even perma-
current of 7 A. Thus, the oxygen supply is more than sufficient in nent damage to the membrane [28,29].
all cases shown in Table 3. Furthermore, it can be seen from both figures that the stack
To determine a suitable air flow for the stack, the performance yielded lower voltages in Case 5 and Case 6 compared to other
and stability of the fuel cell, and the net power of the fuel cell cases. The lower output voltage may be due to the decrease of
system were considered. In each case, the fuel cell was operated temperature in the membrane caused by the excess air flowing
in galvanostatic mode, and the ambient temperature and relative through the fuel cell stack, which has a detrimental impact on the
humidity were kept constant at 25 ºC ± 1 ºC and 50% ± 2%, re- catalyst activity and membrane conductivity [30,31]. Another pos-
spectively. Finally, to validate that the fuel cell system could run sible explanation for this phenomenon is that local flooding may
stably and efficiently with the selected air flow, the temperature occur in the fuel cell, and when the fuel cell was operated at high
distribution on the surface of the fuel cell and the voltage of each current densities, the slow transport velocity was unable to fulfil
unit cell were measured at constant currents of 5 A, 6 A, and 7 A. the electrochemical reaction rate [32,33]. Thus, it can be concluded

Please cite this article as: Y. Song, C. Zhang and A. Deshpande et al., Fixed air flow-rate selection by considering the self-regulating func-
tion of low power air-cooled PEMFC stack, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
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Fig. 4. The (a) transient stack potential and (b) the average stack potential in each case at fixed stack loads of 0.5 A, 1 A, 2 A, 3 A, 4 A, 5 A, 6 A, and 7 A.

that the various air flow rates lead to different stack performance which indicates a lower ohmic resistance. However, the excessive
due to changes in temperature and membrane hydration level, and air flow in Case 3 and Case 4 is undesirable as it would reduce the
the Case 2, Case 3 and Case 4, especially Case 2, seem to provide electrochemical reaction kinetics and mass transport rate [20,35].
an acceptable air flow for the fuel cell stack in this study. Thus, it is seen that the fuel cell performance in Case 3 and Case
4 decreases. The reason is that the positive effects of the increased
3.2. The stability test membrane hydration are offset by the increased activation loss and
mass transport loss [36]. Pei et al. [34] claimed that more of the
In this section, the stability of the fuel cell under Case 2, Case generated water was blown out from the stack at the elevated air
3, and Case 4 is analysed and presented in Fig. 5 (a), which illus- flow rate. Therefore, Case 2 seems to be a promising option as it
trates the performance of the fuel cell stack over time. The boxed responds properly to the different loads imposed on the stack.
regions by rectangles are enlarged in Fig. 5 (b)–(f) to show addi-
tional details of the performance at constant currents of 3 A-7 A. 3.3. Net power output of the system
As can be seen from Fig. 5 (a), the stack performances are sim-
ilar for load currents lower than 3 A. This similarity can be at- In order to investigate the effect of air flow on the system’s
tributed to the sufficient stack cooling at low current loads [20]. net power, experiments were conducted in each case as shown in
In this condition, the resistance in the fuel cell is not obvious and Table 3 where the fuel cell was operated in galvanostatic mode
the catalyst may not be fully activated, but it is sufficient to meet at 7 A. The net power output of the fuel cell system is equal
the current demand. Furthermore, the heat generated by the elec- to the fan power subtracted from the stack power as shown in
trochemical reaction was lower at these current loads, and it can Fig. 7. According to the result, it is first observed that both power
be easily discharged by the air flow through convective heat trans- curves show a similar tendency: gradually increasing at the begin-
fer [34]. Thus, the effect of air flow on the stack performance at ning, reaching a maximum, and then decreasing rapidly. For the
low current loads is negligible. As the current increases, a differ- stack power curve, the initial increase may be attributed to the en-
ence in cooling capacity of the six cases appears. The difference hanced mass transport resulting from the increased air flow, while
in voltage outputs of the fuel cell stack between Case 3, Case 4 the subsequent drop in the stack power may be attributed to the
and Case 2 increases initially and then decreases, as plotted in lower electrochemical reaction rates or anode flooding caused by
Fig. 5 (b)–(f). The increase may be dominated by the electrochem- the higher air flow [37–39]. The decrease of the net system power
ical reaction kinetics. From 0.5 A to 4 A, the stack’s temperature in after the peak value was possibly due to the increase in the par-
Case 2 is higher than that in Case 3 and Case 4, which leads to a asitic power being greater than the stack performance increment
faster electrochemical reaction rate and therefore lower activation in stage A, while the continuous decrease was caused by the re-
overvoltage. As the current increases, the output voltage is domi- duction of stack power in stage B [7]. Secondly, the peak values
nated by the ohmic resistance. Higher air flow contributes to bet- of the net power of the system and stack power are different and
ter membrane conductivity, thus the difference in output voltages obtained at the air flow of 55.71 SLPM and 63.12 SLPM, respec-
reduces. Additionally, it can be observed that the fuel cell stack tively. A relatively high net power can be obtained in Case 2, 57.42
in Case 2 exhibits better performance than that of the other two W of the system net power, at an air flow of 55.71 SLPM. There-
cases. It can be explained that the cooling effect of Case 2 is not fore, Case 2 is an acceptable choice when considering the sys-
as effective as that of Case 3 and Case 4, and the result in Fig. 6 tem performance and the fact that only 2.2% of the gross stack
may support this explanation. Fig. 6 shows the current density and power was consumed by the fan. From the above three sections, it
corresponding temperature variation with respect to the air flow can be concluded that the stack can operate stably and efficiently
when the fuel cell stack was operated at a constant voltage of 9 V. within a certain current range (from 0.5 A to 7 A) with the air flow
With the increase of air flow, the current density increases from provided in Case 2 and without additional control strategies. This
803.1 mA cm−2 to 806.5 mA cm−2 (at an air flow of 55.1 SLPM) phenomenon may be attributed to the self-regulating function in
and then drops to 789.3 mA cm−2 , while the temperature continu- terms of its thermal and water balances inside the metallic open-
ously declines from 51.7 °C to 41.6 °C. During the initial phase, the cathode PEMFC. At low current loads, part of the generated heat is
membrane gets hydrated gradually with the increment of air flow, discharged through the air flow, and due to the low temperature

Please cite this article as: Y. Song, C. Zhang and A. Deshpande et al., Fixed air flow-rate selection by considering the self-regulating func-
tion of low power air-cooled PEMFC stack, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
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Fig. 5. Evolution of power output in Case 2, Case 3 and Case 4 at constant currents of (a) 0.5 A, 1 A-7 A (with a step of 1 A), (b) 3 A, (c) 4 A (d) 5 A, (e) 6 A and (f) 7 A.

of the fuel cell, most of the water, generated through the elec- a fuel cell stack [37,40]. Thus, the temperature distribution on the
trochemical reaction, is retained in the fuel cell. At high current surface of the fuel cell and the cell voltage were simultaneously
loads, more heat generated by the fuel cell can be discharged due measured to validate whether the selected air flow is sufficient to
to the increased temperature differential between the fuel cell and cool the stack evenly. The thermal evaluation of the fuel cell was
the surrounding air. Thus, the temperature of the fuel cell can be recorded using an infrared thermographic imager at load currents
maintained at a certain value. Furthermore, due to the increased of 5 A, 6 A, and 7 A. The infrared thermographic imager was placed
temperature at high current loads, the water vapour saturation in- at the air’s outlet side, which may reflect the highest temperature
creases. Therefore, more of the generated water can be blown out of the fuel cell stack [21].
of the stack in the form of vapour, preventing the occurrence of Fig. 8 shows details of the temperature distribution after the
flooding in the fuel cell. fuel cell was operated for 45 min at constant currents of 5 A, 6 A,
and 7 A, respectively. The low temperature in the middle of the
stack was caused by the clamping bolts and nuts. In Fig. 8 (a), ac-
3.4. Validation of the selection of flow rate
cording to the thermal images obtained by Ti400, the average tem-
perature of the fuel cell in the vertical and horizontal directions in-
In a fuel cell stack, the operating temperature and cell voltage
creases from 44.7 °C to 56.3 °C and from 45.4 °C to 53.9 °C when
are typical factors that are monitored to ensure the ideal operation
the current increases from 5 A to 7 A. The maximum tempera-
of the fuel cell stack. The cooling capability of fuel cells may heav-
ture is 62.6 °C when the fuel cell was operated at 7 A. Although
ily affect the operating temperature and cell voltage uniformity in

Please cite this article as: Y. Song, C. Zhang and A. Deshpande et al., Fixed air flow-rate selection by considering the self-regulating func-
tion of low power air-cooled PEMFC stack, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
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Fig. 6. Average current density and corresponding temperature for increasing air
flow.
Fig. 7. Stack power and corresponding net power output for increasing air flow.

it is 4.3% higher than the temperature limitation (60 °C) of the air
cooling fuel cell, it is acceptable [19]. Fig. 8 (b), in detail, displays flowing from the upper right side, and the residual gases being
the temperature profiles at the centre along the hydrogen flow di- exhausted from the lower left of the stack [42]. Fig. 8 (c) repre-
rection. The upper and lower bounds of the curves correspond to sents the temperature variation along the cell series direction. The
the rib and path regions of the cathode bipolar plates, respectively temperature distribution along this direction shows an oscillation
[41]. It is found that the temperature distribution uniformity dete- of about 2 °C due to the upper and lower bounds corresponding
riorates with an increase in the distance from the top. The temper- to the MEA & anode channel, and the cathode channel regions re-
ature gradient may be caused by the flow direction of hydrogen, spectively [43–45]. Due to the continuous air flow in the cathode

Fig. 8. Temperature profiles at constant currents of 5 A, 6 A and 7 A: (a) thermal image obtained by Ti400, (b) locations of vertical lines, (c) locations of horizontal lines.

Please cite this article as: Y. Song, C. Zhang and A. Deshpande et al., Fixed air flow-rate selection by considering the self-regulating func-
tion of low power air-cooled PEMFC stack, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
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Table 4
Uncertainties of the parameters.

Parameter Uncertainty

Voltage ±0.012 V
Current ±0.012 A
Temperature ±0.12 °C
σCV ±0.0787

4. Conclusion

In this study, a methodology of selecting a fixed air flow for

an air-cooled PEMFC in a low power range was presented by con-
sidering low parasitic loss, compact stack configuration, and au-
tonomous operation over a wide range of load currents. Firstly, the
stack performance tests and the system performance tests were
conducted at different load currents and fan powers. By consid-
ering the output voltage and stability of the stack, as well as the
relationship between the fan power and the net power of the sys-
Fig. 9. Voltage distribution curves in Case 2 under load currents of 5 A, 6 A and tem, an appropriate and fixed air flow can be determined to be
7 A. 55.7 SLPM. The maximum power obtained under this condition is
58.92 W with only 1.29 W parasitic power of the fan. Subsequently
the temperature distribution in both directions, along the anode
channel, the temperature in the cathode channel is lower than the channel and cell series direction, and the cell voltage were mea-
temperature in the MEA & anode channel and no significant tem- sured to validate the efficient performance of the fuel cell system
perature variation is observed on the surface of the fuel cell. under the selected air flow. The experimental results show that the
Fig. 9. shows the cell voltage distribution at load currents of 15 cells air-cooled open-cathode PEMFC stack can work stably and
5 A, 6 A and 7 A. The voltage uniformity of the fuel cell stack can efficiently based on the determined air flow. The maximum root
be calculated using the average voltage and the individual cell volt- mean square value of the unit cell voltage variation is only 1.09%
age, which can be expressed as Eq. (1) [46,47]: at the current load of 7 A. This indicates that the stack has the
ability to regulate its temperature when the load current changes,
 with no hot spots or flooding occurring during the fuel cell opera-
  
 N Vi −V̄ 2 tion. Future studies can consider more complex load profile of the
 i=1 V̄ system in a practical application under different temperatures.
CV = · 100% (1)
N

where Vi and V̄ are the cell voltage and the average cell voltage, Declaration of Competing Interest
respectively. N is the total cell number of the stack.
The maximum voltage differential from the average values are The authors declare the following financial interests/personal
9 mV, 12 mV, and 11.8 mV for the stack operated at 5 A, 6 A and relationships which may be considered as potential competing in-
7 A, respectively. A smaller value of CV suggests that the cell volt- terests.
age of the stack is more uniform. The CV values are 0.64%, 0.91%
and 1.09% for the stack operating at 5 A, 6 A and 7 A, respectively.
All the aforementioned values are lower than the values presented CRediT authorship contribution statement
in the study of Zeng et al. [48], which showed a minimum CV of
around 1.5%. Thus, it can be concluded that the voltage distribution Yuxi Song: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing - original
of the fuel cell was relatively uniform. draft, Writing - review & editing. Caizhi Zhang: Conceptualization,
In summary, although the temperature on the surface of the Writing - original draft, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Aditya
fuel cell shows some fluctuations, the non-uniformity of the tem- Deshpande: Writing - original draft, Formal analysis. Kaifeng Tan:
perature distribution and the cell voltage distribution are within Investigation, Resources. Ming Han: Conceptualization, Resources,
the limited values. Therefore, it suggests that the air flow rate se- Supervision, Funding acquisition.
lected through this methodology can achieve a stable performance
of the PEMFC stack.
In this study, an uncertainty analysis was performed on the Acknowledgments
measured data. Error analysis improves the reliability of data anal-
ysis by helping determine the uncertainty in systematic and pre- This work is supported in part by the national key re-
dictive components [49,50]. The uncertainty of the voltage unifor- search and development program (No.: 2018YFB0105402 and
mity can be calculated as follows [49,51]: No.: 2018YFB0105703), Singapore Temasek Polytechnic Project Re-
search Funding, the Technological Innovation and Application
 1/2 Demonstration in Chongqing (cstc2019jscx-fxyd0158), the national
σCV = 30(σV /15 )2 (2) nature science foundation of China (51806024), CATARC Key
Research Program (Project No. 18200115), the Chongqing Re-
where σ V is the uncertainty of the cell voltage. search Program of Foundation and Advanced Technology (No.:
According to the experimental data and the accuracy of the cstc2017jcyjAX0276) and Research Projects of Chongqing Univer-
measuring devices, the total uncertainties of the obtained parame- sity, China (No.: 0244005202014, 106112017CDJPT280005, No.:
ters are listed in Table 4. 106112016CDJXZ338825 and No.: 106112017CDJQJ338812).

Please cite this article as: Y. Song, C. Zhang and A. Deshpande et al., Fixed air flow-rate selection by considering the self-regulating func-
tion of low power air-cooled PEMFC stack, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
2020.119771
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Please cite this article as: Y. Song, C. Zhang and A. Deshpande et al., Fixed air flow-rate selection by considering the self-regulating func-
tion of low power air-cooled PEMFC stack, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
2020.119771