Nowadays, electrochemical energy storage systems for renewable sources are gaining much attention throughout the world. Fuel Cells are one of the most popular renewable energy converters.
Water management is crucial inside Fuel Cells because water condensates and eventually clogs the diffusion layers, leading to high mass transport losses and limiting their performances, especially at high current density.
The Lattice-Boltzmann Method is being applied to accurately solve the complex two-phase, temperature-dependent, flow field inside reconstructed carbon-fiber porous media and diffusion channels, leading to a thermodynamically consistent simulation of condensation phenomena inside Fuel Cells.
The typical dimensionless numbers (e.g. Reynolds and Rayleigh numbers), the hydrophobicity, and the design of the cell, are being varied in order to gain insight into and predict the condensation and cumulation of liquid water inside Fuel Cells.