Development of Synthetic Jet Air Blower for Air-breathing PEM Fuel Cell
This paper presents a synthetic jet air blower actuated by PZT for air blowing for air-breathing micro PEM fuel cell. The several factors to affect the performance of air-breathing PEM fuel cell such as air flow rate, opening ratio and cathode open type in the cathode side were studied. Especially, an air flow rate is critical condition to improve its performance. In this paper, we developed a synthetic jet air blower to supply a high stoichiometric air flow. The synthetic jet mechanism is a zero mass flux device that converts electrical energy into the momentum. The synthetic jet actuation is usually generated by a traditional PZT actuator, which consists of a small cylindrical cavity, in/outlet channel and PZT diaphragms. The flow rate of the fabricated synthetic jet air blower was 400cc/min at 550Hz and its power consumption was very low under 0.3W. The proposed air-breathing PEM fuel cell which installed synthetic jet air blower was higher performance and stability during continuous operation than the air-breathing fuel cell without auxiliary device to supply the air. The results showed that the maximum power density was 188mW/cm at 400mA/cm. This maximum power density and durability were improved more than 40% and 20%, respectively. Keywords— Air-breathing PEM fuel cell, Synthetic jet air blower, Opening ratio, Power consumption.
Design and analysis of a compact synthetic-jet-based air pump for large airflow
In this paper, a compact synthetic jet actuator comprising a primary jet actuator and a synthetic jet chamber was proposed. This synthetic jet actuator can enhance the total airflow rate by combining the primary, and secondary flows synthesized by the synthetic jet. The oscillating diaphragm and valve parts of the synthetic jet actuator were designed as a closed magnetic flux loop to enhance the magnetic flux density in the coils. The primary jet actuator was designed with a separate inlet and outlet to serve as a heat-dissipation application and prevent the re-ingesting of heated air. Thus, a dynamic model of a synthetic jet actuator was constructed, and motion equations were subsequently derived using plate theory, the Lorentz law, and magnetic flux simulation. The behavior in association with the displacement of the oscillating diaphragm, oscillation frequency, and driving current is discussed in this paper. Finally, an experimental rig was constructed to verify the correctness of the airflow simulations. The synthetic jet actuator was integrated with flow channels, and achieved an airflow rate of 9.23 L/min at a 1.5 V driving voltage.
Effect of superficial gas velocity on the particle temperature distribution in a fluidized bed with heat production
The heat transfer behavior of particles and gas in an olefin polymerization fluidized bed was numerically analyzed using an in-house developed 3-D computational fluid dynamics discrete element model (CFD-DEM). First the implementation of the model was verified by comparing simulation results with analytical results. A constant volumetric heat production rate was implemented in the particle energy equation to mimic the heat production due to the polymerization reaction. It was found that the probability density function (PDF) of the particle temperature becomes more homogeneous with increasing superficial gas velocity. Furthermore, instantaneous snapshots of the thermal driving force (the difference between the single particle temperature and bed-average gas temperature, Tp− ) for different heat production rates provide detailed insight in the particle temperature distribution inside the fluidized bed. The time- and bed-averaged particle convective heat transfer coefficient, which was calculated by Gunn׳s correlation, was found to be independent of the superficial gas velocity. This is explained by the fact that the relative velocity of gas and particles in the emulsion phase, where most of the particles and gas interact, is hardly influenced when increasing the gas superficial velocity. From the spatial distribution of Nusselt number, it becomes apparent that the high heat transfer regions are found in the wake of rising bubbles, whereas low heat transfer rates are found in the clouds of the bubbles.