Design Fuel Cell Housing Prototypes Lightweight Cell Case

Fuel cell housing is a chemical device that converts the chemical energy of fuel directly into electrical energy, also known as electrochemical generator, which is the fourth power generation technology after hydropower, thermal power generation and atomic power generation. It can be manufactured by CNC engraving, sand casting, transparent acrylic(PMMA/PC) 3D Printing.

A fuel cell is usually composed of an electrolyte plate that forms an ionic conductor and a fuel electrode (anode) and an air electrode (cathode) configured on both sides, and a gas flow path on both sides. The role of the gas flow path is to allow fuel gas and air (oxidizer gas) to pass through the flow path. In practical fuel cells, the types of ions associated with the reaction through the electrolyte are also different due to the different electrolytes working.
1. The reaction between PAFC and PEMFC is related to hydrogen ion (H+), and the reaction occurs as follows:
Fuel: H2==2H++2e- (1)
Air pole: 2H++1/2O2+2e-==H2O (2)
All: H2+1/2O2==H2O (3)
In the fuel pole, H2 in the supplied fuel gas breaks down into H+ and e-, and H+ moves to the electrolyte to react with O2 supplied on the air pole side. e- Through the external load loop, and then back to the air side, participate in the air side reaction. A system of reactions contributes to the uninterrupted passage of e- through the external loop, thus constituting power generation. And from the reaction (3) in the above equation, it can be seen that H2O generated by H2 and O2 has no other reaction, and the chemical energy of H2 is converted into electric energy. But in fact, there is a certain resistance along with the electrode reaction, which causes some heat energy to be generated, thereby reducing the proportion of energy converted into electricity. The group of cells that cause these reactions, called components, typically produce a voltage of less than one volt. Therefore, in order to obtain a large output, it is necessary to adopt the method of multilayer stacking of components to obtain a high voltage reactor. The electrical connections between the components and the separation of fuel gas and air are made using components called partitions with gas flow paths in both upper and lower sides. The partitions of PAFC and PEMFC are composed of carbon materials. The output of the reactor is determined by the product of the total voltage and current, which is proportional to the reaction area in the cell. The electrolyte of PAFC is concentrated phosphoric acid aqueous solution, while the electrolyte of PEMFC is a membrane of proton conductive polymer system. In order to promote the reaction, Pt is used as the catalyst, CO in the fuel gas will cause poisoning and reduce the electrode performance. For this reason, the amount of CO contained in fuel gases must be limited in PAFC and PEMFC applications, especially for PEMFC operating at low temperatures.