Upcoming Events

Lecture: Model and Control Microscale Water Flow for PEM Fuel Cell Design/Optimization

Posted: 2017-07-13

Time: July 13, 2017, 9:30 am
Venue: Conference Room on the First Floor, No.1 Energy Building
Lecturer: WANG Yun, University of California, Irvine

Abstract:

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell has been regarded as a potential power source for portable and mobile applications due to its noteworthy features of high efficiency and zero emission.In operation, hydrogen and air are fed into anode and cathode gas channels, respectively, and react with water as the only byproduct.Water product may flood electrodes and fuel cell, reducing voltage output. In this talk, I will briefly discuss modeling/control of microscale water flow in PEM fuel cell, including:

1. 3D Non-isothermal two-phase flows in porous layers. Topics regarding heat pipe effects, neutron imaging, and 3D water distribution will be discussed.
2. Dynamic water behaviors during transient. Water transport, water drying, and fuel cell transient will be presented.
3. Microchannel two-phase flows. Theory for droplet formation and removal in microchannels will be discussed, along with experimental observation and validation. Heterogeneous channel surface’s impacts will be presented.
4. Cold-start and ice control. Ice formation and thermal management in electrodes, including modeling, theoretical analysis, neutron radiographyand experimental diagnostics, will be discussed.

WANG will also cover the multi-layer catalyst layer design and optimization, which UCI has original contribution.

Introduction:

WANG Yun received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanics and Engineering Science from Peking University in 1998 and 2001, respectively. He went to the Pennsylvania State University where he received his Ph.D degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2006. WANG joined the MAE (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) faculty at the University of California, Irvine in 2006. WANG has published over 70 publications in PEM fuel cell, includinga book on PEM Fuel Cell Water and Thermal Management Principles in 2013 and a PEM fuel cell review paper in 2011 (which has been cited over 1300 googlescholar times). He received a few awards, including the prestigious Distinguished President's Award from Orange County Engineering Council, to recognize his scholarly contribution to engineering, and the Seasky Scholarship from Dalian University of Technology. WANG served as Track chair/co-chair, session chair/co-chair, conference chair and committee member for a few international conferences of fuel cells, thermal energy, and mechanical engineering. WANG is currently Associate Professor at the UC Irvine.

Contact: DNL0301
Phone: 84379117