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Reactor Dynamics of PEM Fuel Cells

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Device and Materials Modeling in PEM Fuel Cells

Part of the book series: Topics in Applied Physics ((TAP,volume 113))

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Acknowledgments

We thank the National Science Foundation (CTS -0354279 and DMR-0213707) for support of this work. Andy Bocarsly and Supramaniam Srinivasan were instrumental in introducing me to PEM fuel cells. I want to thank all the undergraduate students (J.F. Moxley, C. Teuscher, E. Karnas, C. Woo, R. Mejia-Ariza) and graduate students (E.-S. J.Chia, W. Hogarth, B. Satterfield) for their contributions in the lab. I especially want to thank my collaborator Ioannis Kevrekidis for encouragement to pursue this work, and developing mathematical models for the complex system dynamics.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544

    Jay Benziger

Authors
  1. Jay Benziger
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA

    Stephen J. Paddison

  2. Department of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

    Keith S. Promislow

Nomenclature

Achannel

cross-sectional area for flow channel

aw

water activity = Pw/Pw o

D

Gas phase diffusivity

F

volumetric flow rate of reactant feeds

I

current

iH+

proton current

kw

mass transfer coefficient for water vapor

lchannel

length of flow channel

NSO3

number of sulfonic acid residues in membrane

Nw m

water content in membrane

Pw

partial pressure of water

Pw o

vapor pressure of water

R

gas constant

Rint

internal resistance for fuel cell membrane electrode assembly

RL

external load resistance

T

temperature

V

voltage drop across the load

Vg

gas flow volume at fuel cell electrodes

Vb

battery voltage for fuel cell

Voc

open circuit voltage of fuel cell

Vop

activation polarization overpotential

λ

number of water molecules per sulfonic acid residue

Ï„R

residence time of fuel cell

Ï„D

characteristic diffusion time

Ï„i

characteristic time constants

F

Faraday’s constant

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Benziger, J. (2009). Reactor Dynamics of PEM Fuel Cells. In: Paddison, S.J., Promislow, K.S. (eds) Device and Materials Modeling in PEM Fuel Cells. Topics in Applied Physics, vol 113. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78691-9_4

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