Journal of Applied Sciences

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A Novel Cooling System for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Stacks

WANG Jiang , SHI Ming-heng , CHEN Zhi
  

  1. Department of Power Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
  • Received:2004-10-16 Revised:2005-01-07 Online:2006-01-31 Published:2006-01-31

Abstract:

A theoretical analysis is carried out for the effective heat management of a direct methanol fuel cell. Based on the requirement of heat management, a novel cooling system with fractal network channels is designed for the direct methanol fuel cell stacks. Optimum structural parameters of the fractal network channels are calculated, and the effect of flux of cooling water and heat load on the temperature distribution in the stacks quantitatively analyzed. The results can be applied to determine the optimal flux of cooling water and to optimize the stack design.

Key words:

direct methanol fuel cell, heat management, cooling system, fractal, structural optimization