A self-supported 40W direct methanol fuel cell system

Manokaran, A and Vijayakumar, R and Thomman, TN and Sridhar, P and Pitchumani, S and Shukla, AK (2011) A self-supported 40W direct methanol fuel cell system. In: Journal of Chemical Sciences, 123 (3). pp. 343-347.

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Abstract

A self-supported 40W Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) system has been developed and performance tested. The auxiliaries in the DMFC system comprise a methanol sensor, a liquid-level indicator, and fuel and air pumps that consume a total power of about 5W. The system has a 15-cell DMFC stack with active electrode-area of 45 cm(2). The self-supported DMFC system addresses issues related to water recovery from the cathode exhaust, and maintains a constant methanol-feed concentration with thermal management in the system. Pure methanol and water from cathode exhaust are pumped to the methanol-mixing tank where the liquid level is monitored and controlled with the help of a liquid-level indicator. During the operation, methanol concentration in the feed solution at the stack outlet is monitored using a methanol sensor, and pure methanol is added to restore the desired methanol concentration in the feed tank by adding the product water from the cathode exhaust. The feed-rate requirements of fuel and oxidant are designed for the stack capacity of 40W. The self-supported DMFC system is ideally suited for various defense and civil applications and, in particular, for charging the storage batteries.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Journal of Chemical Sciences
Publisher:	Indian Academy of Sciences
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences.
Keywords:	DMFC;methanol balance;closed loop
Department/Centre:	Division of Chemical Sciences > Solid State & Structural Chemistry Unit
Date Deposited:	29 Jul 2011 11:27
Last Modified:	29 Jul 2011 11:27
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/39614

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