We report the through-plane thermal conductivities of the several widely used carbon porous transport layers (PTLs) and their thermal contact resistance to an aluminum polarization plate. We report these values both for wet and dry samples and at different compaction pressures. We show that depending on the type of PTL and the existence of residual water, the thermal conductivity of the materials varies from to , one order of magnitude. This behavior is the same for the contact resistance varying from to . For dry PTLs, the thermal conductivity decreases with increasing polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) content and increases with residual water. These effects are explained by the behavior of air, water, and PTFE in between the PTL fibers. It is also found that Toray papers of differing thickness exhibit different thermal conductivities.
Issue Section:
Research Papers
1.
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, and Røsjorde
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, 2005, “Local and Total Entropy Production and Heat and Water Fluxes in a One-Dimensional Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell
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.2.
Bapat
, C. J.
, and Thynell
, S. T.
, 2007, “Anisotropic Heat Conduction Effects in Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
,” ASME J. Heat Transfer
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, pp. 1109
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.3.
Pharoah
, J. G.
, and Burheim
, O.
, 2010, “On the Temperature Distribution in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells
,” J. Power Sources
0378-7753, 195
, pp. 5235
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.4.
Vie
, P. J. S.
, and Kjelstrup
, S.
, 2004, “Thermal Conductivities From Temperature Profiles in the Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell
,” Electrochim. Acta
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, pp. 1069
–1077
.5.
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, S.
, Mench
, M. M.
, and Tadigadapa
, S.
, 2006, “Thin Film Temperature Sensor for Real-Time Measurement of Electrolyte Temperature in a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell
,” Sens. Actuators, A
0924-4247, 125
, pp. 170
–177
.6.
Pharoah
, J. G.
, Karan
, K.
, and Sun
, W.
, 2006, “On Effective Transport Coefficients in PEM Fuel Cell Electrodes: Anisotropy of the Porous Transport Layers
,” J. Power Sources
0378-7753, 161
, pp. 214
–224
.7.
Danes
, F.
, and Bardon
, J. -P.
, 1997, “Conductivité thermique des feutres de carbone, isolants à forte anisotropie: Modèle de conduction par la phase solide (Thermal Conductivity of the Carbon Felts, Strongly Anisotropic Insulants: Modelling of Heat Conduction by Solid Phase
,” Rev. Gen. Therm.
0035-3159, 36
, pp. 302
–311
.8.
Sadeghi
, E.
, Bahrami
, M.
, and Djilali
, N.
, 2008, “Analytic Determination of the Effective Thermal Conductivity of PEM Fuel Cell Gas Diffusion Layers
,” J. Power Sources
0378-7753, 179
, pp. 200
–208
.9.
Burheim
, O.
, Vie
, P. J. S.
, Pharoah
, J. G.
, and Kjelstrup
, S.
, 2010, “Ex Situ Measurements of Through-Plane Thermal Conductivities in a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell
,” J. Power Sources
0378-7753, 195
, pp. 249
–256
.10.
Ramousse
, J.
, Didjierjean
, S.
, Lottin
, O.
, and Maillet
, D.
, 2008, “Estimation of the Effective Thermal Conductivity of Carbon Felts Used as PEMFC Gas Diffusion Layers
,” Int. J. Therm. Sci.
1290-0729, 47
, pp. 1
–6
.11.
Ihonen
, J.
, Mikkola
, M.
, and Lindhberg
, G.
, 2004, “Flooding of Gas Diffusion Backing in PEFCs
,” J. Electrochem. Soc.
0013-4651, 151
, pp. A1152
–A1161
.12.
Khandelwal
, M.
, and Mench
, M. M.
, 2006, “Direct Measurement of Through-Plane Thermal Conductivity and Contact Resistance in Fuel Cell Materials
,” J. Power Sources
0378-7753, 161
, pp. 1106
–1115
.13.
Harvey
, D.
, Pharoah
, J. G.
, and Karan
, K.
, 2008, “A Comparison of Different Approaches to Modelling the PEMFC Catalyst Layer
,” J. Power Sources
0378-7753, 179
, pp. 209
–219
.14.
Reum
, M.
, Freunberger
, S. A.
, Wokaun
, A.
, and Büchi
, F. N.
, 2009, “Measuring the Current Distribution With Sub-Millimeter Resolution in PEFCs
,” J. Electrochem. Soc.
0013-4651, 156
, pp. B301
–B310
.15.
Burheim
, O.
, Vie
, P. J. S.
, Møller-Holst
, S.
, Pharoah
, J.
, and Kjelstrup
, S.
, 2010, “A Calorimetric Analysis of a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell and the Production of H2O2 at the Cathode
,” Electrochim. Acta
0013-4686, 55
, pp. 935
–942
.16.
Lampinen
, M. J.
, and Fomino
, M.
, 1993, “Analysis of Free Energy and Entropy Changes for Half-Cell Reactions
,” J. Electrochem. Soc.
0013-4651, 140
, pp. 3537
–3546
.17.
Fishman
, Z.
, Hinebaugh
, J.
, and Bazylak
, A.
, 2010, “Microscale Tomography Investigations of Heterogeneous Porosity Distributions of PEMFC GDLs
,” J. Electrochem. Soc.
0013-4651, 157
(11
), pp. B1643
–B1650
.18.
Toray Carbon Fibre Paper
, TGP-H, material specification sheet, 22.02.2010, http://fuelcellstore.com/products/toray/specs.pdfhttp://fuelcellstore.com/products/toray/specs.pdf19.
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, M.
, Roth
, J.
, Fleming
, J.
, and Lehnert
, W.
, 2003, Fuel Cell Technology and Applications
(Handbook of Fuel Cells: Fundamentals, Technology and Application
), Vol. 3
, W.
Vielstich
, H. A.
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, and A.
Lamm
, Wiley
, New York
.20.
Zhang
, J.
, Kramer
, D.
, Shimoi
, R.
, Ono
, Y.
, Lehman
, E.
, Wokaun
, A.
, Shinohara
, K.
, and Scherer
, G. G.
, 2006, “In Situ Diagnostic of Two-Phase Flow Phenomena in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells by Neutron Imaging: Part B. Material Variations
,” Electrochim. Acta
0013-4686, 51
, pp. 2715
–2727
.21.
Turhan
, A.
, Heller
, K.
, Brenizer
, J. S.
, and Mench
, M. M.
, 2008, “Passive Control of Liquid Water Storage and Distribution in a PEFC Through Flow-Field Design
,” J. Power Sources
0378-7753, 180
, pp. 773
–783
.22.
Boillat
, P.
, Kramer
, D.
, Seyfang
, B. C.
, Frey
, G.
, Lehmann
, E.
, Scherer
, G. G.
, Wokaun
, A.
, Ichikawa
, Y.
, Tasaki
, Y
, and Shinora
, K.
, 2008, “In situ Observation of the Water Distribution Across a PEFC Using High Resolution Neutron Radiography
,” Electrochem. Commun.
1388-2481, 10
, pp. 546
–550
.23.
Litster
, S.
, Sinton
, D.
, and Djilali
, N.
, 2006, “Ex Situ Visualization of Liquid Water Transport in PEM Fuel Cell Gas Diffusion Layers
,” J. Power Sources
0378-7753, 154
, pp. 95
–105
.Copyright © 2011
by American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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