NUMERICAL MODELING ON HEAT TRANSFER PERFORMANCES OF FUEL CELL EMPLOYING WATER-COPPER OXIDE NANOFLUID

Abstract

The present examination relates to a fuel cell which is encapsulated in a horizontal duct open at both the ends. The nanofluid as coolant is allowed to pass through the annular region between the fuel cell and duct. Water based nanofluid, namely Water-CuO is considered as coolant in the present examinations. The numerical studies are done to get the heat transfer behaviour of encapsulated fuel cell by maintaining its temperature within the safe limit. For that, a 2D numerical model is being developed. The continuity, momentum and energy equations are solved to predict the thermal characteristics. The simulations are performed to predict the temperature fields and temperature contours. The trends of results are along the expected lines. The model parameters taken are fuel cell heat flux of 10 W/cm2 and nanofluid velocity of 9 m/s at duct inlet. The Water-CuO is observed as the nanofluid definitely suitable for fuel cell application without any kind of thermal challenges.