The effect of inlet velocity of water on the two-phase flow regime in the porous transport layer of polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer

• Published in: Heat and mass transfer Vol. 55; no. 7; pp. 1863 - 1870
• Main Authors: Hoseini Larimi, S. Z., Ramiar, A., Esmaili, Q., Shafaghat, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-07-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air flow; Computational fluid dynamics; Computer simulation; Electrolytes; Engineering; Engineering Thermodynamics; Finite element method; Heat and Mass Transfer; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Original; Polymers; Porous media; Thermodynamics; Transport; Two dimensional models; Two phase flow
• ISSN: 0947-7411; 1432-1181
• DOI: 10.1007/s00231-018-2436-x

In this paper two-dimensional (2D), two-phase numerical model is proposed to investigate the effect of water velocity in the channel on the two-phase flow regime in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer porous transport layer (PTL). To simulate the movement of gas-liquid interface finite element method has been used. The model includes a porous media as PTL and a water channel. The water and air is considered as incompressible. The results showed different water velocities although causing different paths of two-phase flow in the PTL have little effect on the type of two-phase flow regimes in the porous media. On the other hand, different water velocities cause different two-phase flows in the channel. For effective removal of airflow in the PTL, the range of water velocities in which the two-phase flow regime in the channel is a bubbly flow is recommended.
Therefore, the minimum velocity is necessary for the bubbly flow in the channel.