multi-response optimization of process parameters influencing electro-mechanical behavior of composite bipolar plates for pem fuel cells
RAGHAVAN.C,KARTHIKEYAN.S,NAVEEN HARRIS RICHARD.A
Published in International Journal of Advanced Research in Mechanical and Production Engineering and Development
ISSN: 2320-7256 Impact Factor:1.398 Volume:2 Issue:1 Year: 14 February,2016 Pages:164-173
Abstract
Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells are considered a promising candidate for zero emission power source required for environmentally friendly transportation applications. Bipolar plate is a multifunctional component within the PEM fuel cell stack and serves the major functions such as providing a uniform distribution of fuel gas and oxygen within the cell, for which the bipolar plates must exhibit excellent electrical conductivity (>100Scm-1) and flexural strength (>25Mpa) as stated by the Department of Energy (DoE, USA). The earlier works carried out with metallic bipolar plates showed poor electrical conductivity (<100Scm-1) and the results obtained by using graphite based bipolar plates showed poor flexural strength (<25Mpa). So the problem of imbalance between these properties is still persisting.. The literature review has not concentrated on optimizing both the properties simultaneously. The focus of this work is to optimize both the properties using the Desirability Function Approach (DFA). Here, the epoxy/activated carbon (50-50 by wt) composite bipolar plate is fabricated using the compression moulding machine. A box behnken experimental design was adopted for the experiment with varying the factors such as Pressure, Temperature and Time. The optimal parameter setting was 130°C, 20 Bar, 30 Minutes for which the values of Flexural strength and Electrical conductivity are 54.1318Mpa and 110.497Scm-1 respectively.
Kewords
Bipolar plates, Multi-response Optimization, Desirability Function
Reference
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