You will be redirected to your destination in 10 seconds.
Polling Question
Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (0)
Thinking Small Led ASU to Better Fuel Cells
After UNLV, my university-hopping trip through the Southwest took me to Arizona State University (ASU). My principle reason for stopping at ASU was to visit with Professor Jonathan Posner, who went to school with me about a thousand years ago at UC Irvine.
Professor Posner now directs ASU’s Micro/Nanofluidics Laboratory, and he is among the most accomplished young microfluids researchers in the country. He recently won the National Science Foundation CAREER Award to study the fluid dynamics of colloidal crystals. Dr. Posner’s work extends into many different areas, including electro-kinetics and bio-sensors. However, the research area that got me fired up was fuel cells.
Many energy conversion processes are limited by flow phenomena occurring at extremely tiny length scales. For example, ion transport through semi-permeable membranes governs rates of energy generation in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Membrane hydration is critical to PEMFC performance. However, over-hydration causes liquid build-up in the fuel cell cathode, reducing oxygen transport to reaction sites, which hinders performance.
Professor Posner and his colleagues developed a mechanism to actively pump water away from the fuel cell cathode. In a recent paper on the subject, Posner and his co-authors say “removal of liquid water with a low power, robust, active method should allow PEMFCs to operate in regimes otherwise inaccessible due to flooding.” Not only did they improve performance, but they also extended the effective PEMFC operating range to lower temperatures.
With their well-developed expertise in small-scale fluid flow, ASU’s Micro/Nanofluidics Laboratory is nicely positioned to make an impact in energy generation and other allied industries. Professor Posner is a researcher worth keeping your eye on.
Sponsored Content
Design News Partner Zones
CAD/CAE Model Clean-Up: Reduce Iterative Cycles
This webinar featured research
and survey results related to problems associated with preparing CAD geometry
for CAE applications. We discussed how
Recipe-Based Automation can help
create "just-in-time" CAE-ready geometry each time a cad model is updated. Watch the Presentation
Light Matters: Systems Level Approach to HBLED illumination applications
Its good practice to apply a systems-level approach to high-brightness LED (HBLED) illumination applications. Minimally, the system includes the optical, thermal and electrical characteristics of the of the HBLED, the lens (if any) which is built-in to its package, secondary optics such as external plastic lenses/reflectors to direct the light as your application requires and power driver electronics. Read More
Design Engineers' Portal for Sensing and Machine Safety
Whatever industry you're in, or whatever product you manufacture, the right sensors to automate your plant, and to improve your overall efficiency, quality and safety are a must. You'll find Banner Engineering to be an amazing resource of products, training and people with expertise.

