Effect of Initial Membrane Water Content on the Cold Start Performance of PEMFC.

Aiming at the problem of start-up failure caused by icing during the cold start of proton exchange membrane fuel cell, COMSOL Multiphysics software is used to establish a cold start transient model of three-dimensional multiphase flow with multi-physics field coupling for proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Through the cold-start model simulation, the effects of the initial membrane water content on the current density, icing rate, temperature and other characteristics of the battery cold-start are investigated. The numerical results show that the higher the initial water content, the greater the initial current density and a faster temperature rises. However, it is accompanied by a larger icing rate and earlier icing time, which leads to a faster decline in battery performance. Lower initial water content is helpful to delay icing, and the battery temperature rises higher, which is more beneficial to cold start. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]