THERMAL SCIENCE
International Scientific Journal
Find this paper on
THERMAL MANAGEMENT ENHANCEMENT OF PEMFC USING A COMPOSITE COOLING CHANNEL COMBINING FLUIDIC OSCILLATOR AND BIONIC LEAF STRUCTURE
ABSTRACT
Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) generates substantial waste heat during operation. Excessive temperature induces performance degradation and may cause irreversible cell damage. To address the non-uniform temperature distribution in PEMFCs, this study proposes a novel composite cooling channel that, for the first time, integrates a fluid oscillator with a bionic leaf-inspired cooling structure. Unlike conventional parallel or biomimetic channels that rely on steady flow distribution, the introduced fluid oscillator generates self-induced oscillating jets that dynamically modify the coolant flow within the bionic branches. Experimental results demonstrate that this coupling mechanism significantly enhances coolant mixing and heat transfer, resulting in superior temperature uniformity compared with both traditional parallel channels and standalone bionic leaf cooling channels. The results show that the cooling fluid distribution and temperature uniformity of the composite cooling channel are better than those of the parallel cooling channel and the bionic leaf cooling channel. The maximum temperature decreases from 348.45 K to 346.28 K, the temperature difference decreases from 3.62 K to 2.13 K, and the temperature uniformity index decreases from 1.53 to 0.49, which is 68.0% lower than that of the parallel cooling channel. Compared with the serpentine cooling channel, the compound cooling channel effectively solves the problem of excessive pressure drop while ensuring efficient cooling performance. The pressure drop of serpentine cooling channel is 28218.34 Pa, while that of compound cooling channel is only 1477.28 Pa, which is 94.8% lower. Further parameter optimization of the fluidic oscillator reduced the pressure drop to 1347.72 Pa and improved the temperature uniformity index to 0.41.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2025-08-18
PAPER REVISED: 2026-01-12
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2026-01-29
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2026-03-07
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI250818014D
REFERENCES
[1] Chen, S., et al., Experimental study on cooling performance of microencapsulated phase change suspension in a PEMFC, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 42 (2017), pp. 30004-30012
[2] Rosli, R. E., et al., A review of high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 42 (2017), pp. 9293-9314
[3] Islam, M. R., et al., The potential of using nanofluids in PEM fuel cell cooling systems: A review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 48 (2015), pp. 523-539
[4] Xing, L., et al., Modeling and thermal management of proton exchange membrane fuel cell for fuel cell/battery hybrid automotive vehicle, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 47 (2022), 3, pp. 1888-1900
[5] Portillo, D. J., et al., The Effects of Compressibility on the Performance and Modal Structures of a Sweeping Jet Emitted from Various Scales of a Fluidic Oscillator, Fluids 7 (2022), 7, pp
[6] Yu, Z., et al., Experimental study on the periodic pulsating ventilation by fluidic oscillator on pollutant dispersion and ventilation performance in enclosed environment, International Journal of Ventilation 23 (2024), 4, pp. 365-380
[7] Chen, F. C., et al., Analysis of Optimal Heat Transfer in a PEM Fuel Cell Cooling Plate, Fuel Cells 3 (2003), 4, pp. 181-188
[8] Yu, S. H., et al., Numerical study to examine the performance of multi-pass serpentine flow-fields for cooling plates in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, Journal of Power Sources 194 (2009), 2, pp. 697-703
[9] Zuo, W., et al., Performance comparison between single S-channel and double S-channel cold plate for thermal management of a prismatic LiFePO4 battery, Renewable Energy 192 (2022), pp. 46-57
[10] Chen, Y., Cheng, P., Heat transfer and pressure drop in fractal tree-like microchannel nets, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 45 (2002), 13, pp. 2643-2648
[11] Chen, X., et al., Design of PEMFC bipolar plate cooling flow field based on fractal theory, Energy Conversion and Management: X 20 (2023), pp. 100445
[12] Kloess, J. P., et al., Investigation of bio-inspired flow channel designs for bipolar plates in proton exchange membrane fuel cells, Journal of Power Sources 188 (2009), 1, pp. 132-140
[13] Damian-Ascencio, C. E., et al., Numerical modeling of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with tree-like flow field channels based on an entropy generation analysis, Energy 133 (2017), pp. 306-
[14] Saliba, G., et al., Jet impingement cooling using fluidic oscillators: an experimental study, Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2116 (2021), 1, pp. 012028
[15] Wu, Y., et al., Large eddy simulation analysis of the heat transfer enhancement using self-oscillating fluidic oscillators, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 131 (2019), pp. 463-471
[16] Ming, T., et al., Unsteady RANS simulation of fluid dynamic and heat transfer in an oblique self-oscillating fluidic oscillator array, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 177 (2021), pp. 121515
[17] Metka, M., Gregory, J., Drag Reduction on the 25-deg Ahmed Model Using Fluidic Oscillators, Journal of Fluids Engineering 137 (2015), 5, pp. 051108
[18] Hewakandamby, B. N., A numerical study of heat transfer performance of oscillatory impinging jets, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 52 (2009), 1, pp. 396-406
[19] Khan, M. S., et al., A comparison of oscillating sweeping jet and steady normal jet in cooling gas turbine leading edge: Numerical analysis, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 208 (2023), pp. 124041
[20] Woszidlo, R., et al., Experimental study of the internal flow structures inside a fluidic oscillator, Experiments in Fluids 54 (2013), 6, pp. 1-12
[21] Amiri, J. A., Farhadi, M., Numerical investigation of a single feedback loop oscillator with two outlet channels, Chemical Engineering Research and Design 150 (2019), pp. 206-217
[22] Velisala, D., et al., Numerical study of serpentine flow field designs effect on proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance, Chemical Product and Process Modeling 16 (2020), 1, pp. 55-56
[23] Weber, A. Z., Newman, J., Modeling transport in polymer-electrolyte fuel cells, Chemical reviews 104 (2004), 10, pp. 4679-4726
[24] Zhao, L., et al., Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Heat Conductivity on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Performance in Different Axis Directions, Processes 11 (2023), 6, pp
[25] Secanell, M., Computational modeling and optimization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells,
[26] Zhang, S., et al., Numerical investigation on the performance of PEMFC with rib-like flow channels, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 47 (2022), 85, pp. 36254-3626
© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence


