| |
Fluent CFO Peter Christie (seated, left) and NETL’s Larry Headley
(seated, right) sign the CRADA on PEMFC modeling
“The result of this CRADA between NETL and Fluent
Inc. will be a fully-validated, commercial CFD model of the PEMFC,
including electrochemistry, electric field, and multiphase flow of
water. This FLUENT-based tool will allow PEMFC designers and manufacturers
to understand the detailed operation of their PEMFC cell and stack,
which is critical information for design optimization.”
– Dipankar Choudhury
Chief Technology Officer, Fluent Inc.
In November 2001, Fluent entered into a Cooperative Research and Development
Agreement (CRADA) with the US Department of Energy’s National Energy
Technology Laboratory (NETL). This collaboration will focus on the development
and validation of a FLUENT-based Polymer Eletrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell
(PEMFC) model.
FLUENT prediction of water vapor mole fraction at the anode of a PEM Fuel
Cell
NETL and Fluent have agreed to work together on the development of the
PEMFC model, which builds on the existing capabilities of the FLUENT code
to calculate fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions.
NETL will provide expertise in PEM fuel cell technology to assist in the
implementation of submodels describing complex PEMFC physics. NETL will
also work with Fluent in model validation by providing data from NETL
PEMFC experiments to compare with model predictions and ensure model accuracy.
The validated PEMFC code will then be made available to the public as
part of the commercial Fluent software family. NETL will use the resulting
model for their inhouse studies of PEMFC systems.
|
|
|
