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Investigation of an Air-Forced Open Cathode Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Stack Energy Efficiency with Different Fan Operation Mechanisms

Tan-Thich Do, Ngoc-Dang Nguyen

Abstract


The proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are potential candidates for energy solutions toward net-zero emissions by 2050 owing to their remarkable properties. In the air-forced open cathode PEMFC stack (AF-OCPEMFCs), the electric fan was used to provide the air and dissipate the heat generated by the fuel cells. In this study, the performance and energy efficiency of the AF-OCPEMFCs were investigated under load levels and different fan mechanisms, including the blow and suction modes. The results show that the performance and energy efficiency of the blow mode are superior to the suction mode across the load levels, and the fan duty factors of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0. Additionally, the hydrogen consumption was achieved at 0.014, 0.028, 0.042, and 0.056 L min−1, corresponding to operating currents of 2, 4, 6, and 8 A, respectively. Notably, the highest energy efficiency was achieved at 35.04% under load levels of 6 A with blow mode. This study is meaningful for thermal management to optimize the energy efficiency of AF-OCPEMFCs for unmanned aerospace vehicles (UAVs) and electric vehicles (EVs).

Keywords



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DOI: 10.14416/j.asep.2026.05.003

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