Investigation of Gas Diffusion Media Using CFD Modeling

The performance of a gas diffusion layer comprised of a macro porous and micro porous layer has been studied both experimentally and by numerical simulation. Experimental data at different humidification conditions has been compared to full cell, three dimensional computational fluid dynamics calculations to validate the physical model of the cell. Local distributions of current density, membrane conductivity, temperature, and gas composition are discussed in detail. Model calculations with and without the micro porous layer show that this layer has a small effect on the overall performance. However, the local distributions show significant differences.