Magister Scientiae - MSc (Physics)

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Three dimensional thermal modelling of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells in a serpentine design
(University of the Western Cape, 2010) Maasdorp, Lynndle Caroline; Knoesen, Dirk; Ulleberg, Øystein; Dept. of Physics; Faculty of Science
The aim of my work is to model a segment of a unit cell of a fuel cell stack using numerical methods which is classified as computational fluid dynamics and implementing the work in a commercial computational fluid dynamics package, FLUENT. The focus of my work is to study the thermal distribution within this segment. The results of the work aid in a better understanding of the fuel cell operation in this temperature range. At the time of my investigation experimental results were unavailable for validation and therefore my results are compared to previously published results published. The outcome of the results corresponds to this, where the current flux density increases with the increasing of operating temperature and fixed operating voltage and the temperature variation across the fuel cell at varying operating voltages. It is in the anticipation of determining actual and or unique material input parameters that this work is done and at which point this studies results would contribute to the understanding high temperature PEM fuel cell thermal behaviour, significantly.