Work

Research on Sealing Mechanism and Structural Optimization of Electrolysis Cell for Hydrogen Production by Electrolysis of Water

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: In order to optimize the sealing structure of the electrolytic cell for hydrogen production by electrolysis of water and enhance its sealing performance, a finite element model of the electrolytic cell sealing was established using software. The influence of different parameters of the sealing rib structure on the sealing performance was studied, and the variation law of gasket compressive stress under different sealing rib slot widths, angles, and spacings was explored. The results show that under the material constants of C10 = 7.0 × 10−3 and C01 = 6.05 in the Mooney–Rivlin constitutive model of the gasket, the gasket will deform and embed into the sealing rib groove after compression. At the same time, two parts of stress concentration will occur at the contact area between the gasket and the sealing rib groove, namely tensile stress concentration and compressive stress concentration. This stress concentration is the main source of sealing effect in practical work. After adding the sealing rib groove, the contact area between the sealing rib area and the gasket increases. When maximizing the peak sealing compressive stress serves as the optimization criterion, the optimal pitch settles at 0.4 mm; if the optimization objective shifts to attaining the utmost contact area, the preferable spacing amounts to 1 mm, accompanied by a maximum contact area increment of 34.31 percent. After comprehensive deliberation over sealing stress magnitude, functional sealing area, gas tightness efficiency as well as practical engineering applicability, 0.8 mm is pinpointed in this dissertation as the globally optimal spacing dimension. With a sealing rib pitch of 0.8 mm, a breadth of 1 mm, and an inclined angle of 20 degrees, the gasket yields substantial sealing stress alongside optimized post-assembly sealing contact area, wherein 26.44 percent of the overall gasket area contributes to effective sealing performance.

Source: Processes

DOI: 10.3390/pr14121969