燃料電池之技術已逐漸成熟，但成本與重量仍有相當大的改進空間。由於傳統石墨雙極板之體積與重量佔電池堆之60 %以上，而成本佔約30 %，故電池堆輕量化之標的多為雙極板。在石墨板上建立氣體流道的過程十分昂貴與耗時，導致雙極板的成本太高。於此，本實驗室在2006年提出一同時兼顧價廉與容易製造暨組裝的替代方案。利用金屬發泡材重量輕與高導電之特性，在提升性能之同時，達到輕量化與降低成本之目的。本實驗室在2006~2008年間，針對金屬發泡材燃料電池進行一系列研究，並且成功的研發出一性能優而容易製造、組裝的100 W電池堆。此一電池堆其本身重量與體積與相同瓦數下的石墨板燃料電池相比都要來的輕與小。但在上個計畫執行期間，發現現有的燃料電池堆進排氣設計並不能滿足金屬發泡材燃料電池堆。而在國際上相關論文對進排氣設計並無太多著墨，面對此一新型設計，勢必需要研發出適合的進排氣設計。故本期計畫將以開發適合金屬發泡材燃料電池堆的進排氣設計為目標。研究中將使用模擬軟體Fluent® 6.3與Gambit® 2.0，先建立金屬發泡材燃料電池堆進排氣模型，探討不同進排氣設計下之熱流與質傳現象及其對金屬發泡材燃料電池堆性能的影響，並對金屬發泡材燃料電池堆生成水氣的分布暨排除的機制進行管理。將模擬所得結果，應用於實際系統，以期改善金屬發泡材燃料電池的電池性能與水熱管理。第一年將建立一2D流場（包含外流場設計），針對不同的進排氣設計，詳細分析該設計對金屬發泡材內流場的影響。第二年一方面提升模型至3維，以探討3維之效應，另一方面將2維、3維之模擬結果實際運用至電池設計，由實驗與分析之結果互相驗證分析。希望能以10cm x 10cm的MEA設計製作出80W之單電池。第三年以前二年之成果為基礎，開發一600 W之電池堆，預計將由10-12個單電池組成，希望能妥善處理不同電池間之燃料分配問題。 ; The fuel cell technology has been maturing gradually. However, there are rooms for improvement in terms of cost and weight. Traditional graphite bipolar plate accounts for over 60 % of the volume and weight of the stack and about 30 % of the cost. Therefore it has been the target for reducing the weight and cost of fuel cell stack. Highly porous metal foams have high electric and thermal conductivity and light weight. Utilizing these properties, we use metal foams to replace graphite plates. While reducing the weight and cost of a fuel cell, the performance of the cell is also increased. We have successfully developed a 100 W stack using five 5cm by 5cm single cells. However, we discovered that current gas inlet and outlet design is not suitable for use in metal foam fuel cells. Therefore the main purpose of this proposal is to develop advanced gas inlet and outlet design and gas manifold for use in metal foam fuel cell stacks. We will use Fluent® software to build the simulation model and study the effects of different gas inlet and outlet, and gas manifold designs on the reactant distribution and fuel cell performance. The results will be used to improve fuel cell design. In the first year, a 2-D model that may include external gas channels will be built for detail analysis of thermal, flow, and mass transfer characteristics. In the second year, the 2-D model will be extended to a 3-D one to investigate three dimensional effects. Also, the results from 2-D and 3-D simulation will be applied to fuel cell design for a 80 W single cell using a 10 cm x 10 cm MEA. In the last year, we hope to build a 600 W stack based on the experience obtained from the first two years. The problem of uneven reactant distribution will also be addressed. ; 研究期間 9808 ~ 9907
