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Fuel cells come in many varieties; however, they all work in the same general manner. They are made up of three adjacent segments: the anode, the electrolyte, and the cathode.
Two chemical reactions occur at the interfaces of the three different segments. The net result of the two reactions is that fuel is consumed, water or carbon dioxide is created, and an electric current is created, which can be used to power electrical devices, normally referred to as the load.
A Anode catalyst oxidizes the fuel, typically hydrogen, at the anode, transforming the fuel into an ion with a positive charge and an electron with a negative charge.
The electrolyte is a substance made to allow only ions and not electrons to pass through it. The electric current is produced by the freed electrons moving through a wire.
Ions reach the cathode through the electrolyte. Ions and electrons reunite at the cathode, where they react with a third chemical, typically oxygen, to produce carbon dioxide or water.
A fuel cell’s design features include: The electrolyte, which typically identifies the type of fuel cell and can be made of phosphoric acid, salt carbonates, potassium hydroxide, or another substance; The fuel utilized.
Hydrogen is the most common fuel; The fuel is broken down into electrons and ions by the anode catalyst, which is usually a fine powder of platinum; Ions are transformed into waste chemicals by the cathode catalyst, typically nickel; the most typical waste chemical is water; Layers for gas diffusion that are made to resist oxidation.
The Global Fuel cell anode end plates market accounted for $XX Billion in 2022 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2023 to 2030.
Anode End plates of a 5 kW PEM fuel cell – The major role of the Anode end plate is providing uniform pressure distribution between various components of the fuel cell (bipolar plates, etc.) and consequently reducing contact resistance between them.
A procedure for design of end plate has been developed. At first a suitable material is selected using various criteria.
Then a finite element (FE) analysis is accomplished to analyze end plate deflections and get its optimized thickness.
After fabricating the end plates, a single cell was assembled and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests were carried out to ensure their good operation.
A 5 kW fuel cell assembled with these end plates was tested at different operating conditions. The test results show an appropriate assembly pressure distribution inside the stack which indicates good performance of the designed end plates.
