Volume 13 - Year 2026 - Pages 64-70
DOI: 10.11159/jffhmt.2026.006

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Reliability Improvement in Modelling a Hollow Fiber Membrane Humidifier Using the Response Surface Method

Xuan Linh Nguyen1, Thanh Tai Phan1, Yoora Choi1, Dongkeun Song*2, Sangseok Yu*3

1Chungnam National University, Department of Mechanical Engineering
99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
linhnxbk.hust@gmai.com; phthanhtai1703@gmail.com, dbfk0107@naver.com
2Eco-friendly Energy and Environment Division, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials
156 Gajeongbuk-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
dksong@kimm.re.kr (*corresponding author)
3Chungnam National University, School of Mechanical Engineering
99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
sangseok@cnu.ac.kr (*corresponding author)

Abstract - Water transport through the membrane represents the performance of a membrane humidifier, which is widely employed in fuel cell applications. Precise evaluation of this process is a foundation for system simulation, contributing to cost minimization. Conducting experiments for parametric analysis of water transport is a fundamental step in measuring reliable data to establish a correlation between the humidifier performance and operating conditions. This correlation should be proposed with minimal deviation to improve the reliability of the entire system. This study presents humidifier lumped models with different definitions of water diffusion through the hollow fiber membrane. The assumption of constant diffusivity in the membrane causes an overestimation in predicting the humidifier performance, with an average deviation of 10.75%. The selected model for system simulation is based on the response surface fitting function for the number of transfer units (NTU). This function helped minimize the deviation between simulation results and experimental data on water transport in a hollow fiber membrane humidifier. The average deviation in this case is 5.68%.

Keywords: Hydrogen fuel cell; Water management; Hollow fiber membrane humidifier; Response surface method.

© Copyright 2026 Authors - This is an Open Access article published under the Creative Commons Attribution License terms Creative Commons Attribution License terms. Unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited.

Date Received: 2025-07-22
Date Revised: 2026-01-14
Date Accepted: 2026-01-19
Date Published: 2026-01-23

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