Taguchi Approach in Combination with CFD Simulation as a Technique for the Optimization of the Operating Conditions of PEM Fuel Cells

In proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems operating at low temperature, water management is important as it helps to improve cell performance. In this research paper, a three-dimensional, steady-state and non-isothermal model was established. The paper is aimed at investigating the effect of water flooding on the PEMFC performance. The Taguchi approach was proposed to obtain optimal levels and analyze the influence of different parameters, such as relative humidity (RH) on the anode and cathode sides, gas diffusion layer (GDL) porosity on the anode and cathode sides, temperature and pressure, respectively. To illustrate the effect of wet inlet gases, the relative humidity and the GDL porosity for the model were varied on both sides of the anode and cathode as follows: 10%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 90%. Therefore, our findings show that at the anode RH = 0% and 100%, the optimum levels were (L4, L5, L3 and L1) and (L1, L1, L5 and L4) for the relative humidity of the cathode, GDL porosity of the cathode, temperature and pressure, respectively, while at the cathode RH = 0% and 100%, the optimum levels were (L5, L5, L5 and L4) and (L1, L5, L1 and L4) for the relative humidity of the anode, GDL porosity of the anode, temperature and pressure, respectively. Consequently, the maximum power densities for the optimal combinations were found to be 0.727, 0.725, 0.135 and 0.111 for the anode RH = 0%, anode RH = 100%, cathode RH = 0% and cathode RH = 100%, respectively.