Acar, Mahmut Caner2024-11-072024-11-0720231064-22852162-6561https://doi.org/10.1615/HeatTransRes.2022043709https://hdl.handle.net/11480/14210Heat management in proton exchange membrane fuel cells is seen as one of the most important issues for their control, durability and performance. In this work, a detailed three-dimensional thermal analysis for the cooling plate of proton exchange membrane fuel cells is carried out by using the computational fluid dynamics method. In this context, the thermal performance of different cooling plate materials, viz., graphite, titanium alloy, stainless steel, and aluminum that are commonly used as the base material for bipolar plates, is investigated based on the temperature uniformity index, temperature difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures, maximum temperature, and average temperature. Comparing with other materials, the minimum values for the temperature uniformity index (1.03 degrees C), temperature difference (3.74 degrees C), and maximum surface temperature (68.77 degrees C) are obtained with aluminum at the heat flux and Reynolds number of 3250 W/m(2) and 1200, respectively. Since a quite small difference is observed between the maximum and minimum surface temperatures, the highest average surface temperature value of 67.29 degrees C is obtained in the case of aluminum. Therefore, it can be concluded that the best cooling performances can be achieved by using aluminum. Since the highest value for temperature uniformity index is estimated with titanium alloy, this material exhibits the worst cooling performance.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccesscooling platecomputational fluid dynamicsheat transferfluid flowArticle544476310.1615/HeatTransRes.20220437092-s2.0-85159212072Q3WOS:001022037000004Q3