Annals of the Assembly for International Heat Transfer Conference 13

ISBN 1-56700-225-0 / CD 1-56700-226-9

Year 2006

Hang Guo
Beijing University of Technology

J. L. Jia
College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

J. Kong
College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

F. Ye
College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

Dr. Chong-Fang Ma
College of Environmental & Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology Beijing 100082, China

Liquid fed direct methanol fuel cells have drawn increasing attention in recent years. In this paper, a liquid fed direct methanol fuel cell with transparent window was designed and fabricated for visual investigations of carbon dioxide bubbles behaviour and two-phase flow characteristics in anode interdigital flow bed under different operating conditions. The experimental results showed that the electrochemical reaction and two-phase flow interacted each other. The gas void fraction of carbon dioxide gas and mean size of CO2 bubbles increased with increase in current density, as well as cell temperature. The two-phase flow patterns in the interdigital flow bed are different from the phenomena in parallel channels flow bed and serpentine channel flow bed. There were gas columns in the inlet channels. The two-phase flow in outlet channels was bubbly flow. Slug flow was not observed in outlet channels of interdigital flow bed. The typical flow pattern in outlet manifold is slug flow. But bubbly flow and slug flow coexisted in the outlet manifold at low temperature. The effect of input flow rate of methanol solution was also studied. High flow rate was helpful for removal of carbon dioxide bubbles from flow bed.

ENR-04 pages DOI: 10.1615/IHTC13.p24.40 Download article

Article price - $35.00

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