Development of a Passive Variable Conductance Thermosyphon for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

A Polymer Membrane Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is an ideal power generation system since it does not produce any pollution. However, thermal management is a key bottleneck for more adoption of high-power hydrogen fuel cells. Several key thermal challenges of PEMFCs include large amounts of generated waste heat, the need of cooling uniformity “minimizing in-plane thermal gradients” and maintaining the stack temperature within the optimal operating range when the sink temperature significantly changes. To address the key thermal challenges of heavy-duty fuel cells, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) developed an innovative passive Variable Conductance Thermosyphon (VCTS), that can be directly integrated into the fuel cell stack, to passively remove heat while maintaining a uniform temperature across the entire fuel cell stack.