Parametric optimization of wall-mounted cuboid rows installed in interdigitated flow channel of HT-PEM fuel cells

High temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells reduce water management problems and tolerates CO better in a polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane because they work at temperatures higher than 120 °C. This paper examines the effect of setting wall-mounted cuboid rows in the interdigitated flow channel on the performance of HT-PEM fuel cells through experiments and simulations. The results of numerically analyzing the four flow channels show that setting the wall-mounted cuboid rows in top half parts of the channel can improve the cell performance. The best net electric power occurs at the arrangement of Case I increasing net electric power by 7.82% compared to the smooth interdigitated flow channel. The Case I design is then used to conduct the experiment with L₂₇ orthogonal array of the Taguchi method to determine different optimal combined factors. The best combined factor level raises 191.09% electrical power than that for the minimum pressure loss, but it decreases the pressure drop than that for maximum power up to 17.00%. Applying Nyquist plots compares the internal impedance between various optimal parameters combinations of Case I and the smooth interdigitated flow channel to confirm the polarization performance results.