Predictive tools for membrane durability in fuel cell applications

Fuel cells are a clean energy technology that generates electricity without harmful emissions and uses hydrogen as the fuel in place of oil. As fuel cell electric vehicles are deployed globally on a significant scale, it is critical to ensure high levels of operational durability and reliability, equal to or exceeding that of incumbent engine technologies. The proposed project addresses the durability of the membrane, which is one of the key components of fuel cells. In this project, a unified chemical and mechanical modeling platform will be developed with the help of in-house experimental characterization of membrane material properties. The developed model can be applied for evaluating membrane durability in fuel cells as a function of fuel cell operating conditions.

Faculty Supervisor:

Erik Kjeang

Student:

Narinder Singh Khattra;Sandeep Bhattacharya

Partner:

Ballard Power Systems Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Simon Fraser University