Considering the application of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the separator thickness plays a significant role in determining the weight, volume, and costs of the PEMFC. In addition, thermal management, i.e., temperature distribution is also important for the PEMFC system to obtain higher performance. However, there were few reports investigating the relation between the temperature profile and the power generation characteristics e.g., the current density distribution of PEMFC operated at higher temperatures (HT-PEMFC). This paper aims to study the impact of separator thickness on the temperature profile and the current density profile of HT-PEMFC. The impact of separator thickness on the gases i.e., H₂, O₂ profile of HT-PEMFC numerically was also studied using CFD software COMSOL Multiphysics in the paper. In the study, the operating temperature and the relative humidity (RH) of the supply gas were varied with the separator thickness of 2.0 mm, 1.5 mm, and 1.0 mm, respectively. The study revealed that the optimum thickness was 2.0 mm to realize higher power generation of HT-PEMFC. The heat capacity of the separator thickness of 2.0 mm was the biggest among the separators investigated in this study, resulting in the dry-up of PEM and catalyst layer was lower compared to the thinner separator thickness. It also clarified the effects of separator thickness of profile gases, e.g., O₂, H₂O, and current density profile became larger under the higher temperature and the lower RH conditions.

The purpose of this work is to present the model of a Parabolic Trough Solar Collector (PTC) using the Finite Element Method to predict the thermal behavior of the working fluid along the collector receiver tube. The thermal efficiency is estimated based on the governing equations involved in the heat transfer processes. To validate the model results, a thermal simulation of the fluid was performed using Solidworks software. The maximum error obtained from the comparison of the modeling with the simulation was 7.6% at a flow rate of 1 L/min. According to the results obtained from the statistical errors, the method can effectively predict the fluid temperature at high flow rates. The developed model can be useful as a design tool, in the optimization of the time spent in the simulations generated by the software and in the minimization of the manufacturing costs related to Parabolic Trough Solar Collectors.