Testing of Two-Phase Cooling of Bipolar Plates for Fuel Cells
Testing of Two-Phase Cooling of Bipolar Plates for Fuel Cells
Date
2025
Authors
Gerner, H.J. van
Mühlthaler, G.
Buntz, M.B.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
IEEE
License Holder
©20XX IEEE
Licence Type
CC BY 4.0
Sponsor
This research was funded from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101101409. This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
Abstract
Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are the preferred energy source for electric aircraft. However, for aircraft applications, it is of upmost importance to reduce the mass of the fuel cell system. A considerable amount of the total system mass is due to the fuel cell cooling system. This paper discusses two-phase cooling of the bipolar plates in a fuel cell stack. A twostep approach was used. First, test were carried out with machined plates with a geometry similar to bipolar plates. In a second step, actual bipolar plates were tested, including the membranes, seals and gaskets that are present in a fuel cell. These bipolar plates are from a standard fuel cell stack and are intended for water/glycol cooling. The tests show that these standard bipolar plates can be used with two-phase cooling with methanol
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Citation
H. J. van Gerner, G. Mühlthaler and M. -B. Buntz, "Testing of Two-Phase Cooling of Bipolar Plates for Fuel Cells," 2025 31st International Workshop on Thermal Investigations of ICs and Systems (THERMINIC), Naples, Italy, 2025, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/THERMINIC65879.2025.11216944.