In this paper a study on the role of wire coils inserted in the oxygen supply channels of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is reported. Different power densities have been obtained at different oxygen flow rates with and without insert. The experimental results clearly reveal that inserting a wire coil can increase the generated power density up to 41% in some layouts. The CFD modeling is carried out to explain and to analyze the observed results. The generated circumferential flow close to the gas diffusion layer (GDL) is found to be the main reason for the obtained experimental results. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.