Effect of inlet flow maldistribution in the stacking direction on the performance of a solid oxide fuel cell stack

Yuan, Peng

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2008.06.039

Cited by 29 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In addition, a voltage drop due to activation overpotential is set on the surface between the electrodes and electrolyte. These are computed through the Butler-Volmer equation [29,30]: (20) The exchange current at the cathode side depends on the partial pressure of the reacting gas:…”

Section: Mcfc Stack Geometry and Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design improvement of circular molten carbonate fuel cell stack through CFD Analysis

Verda

Sciacovelli

2011

Applied Thermal Engineering

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Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) is a promising technology for distributed power generation. The core of a MCFC power generation unit is the stack, where various fuel cells are connected together in series and parallel in order to obtain the desired voltage and power. Stack geometry and configuration are major engineering topics, as inhomogeneous temperature or mass fractions cause inefficient performances of the fuel cells, as efficiency and power smaller than the expected and shorter lifetime. A detailed model is a useful tool to improve stack performances, through design improvements. In this paper, a 3D model of a stack composed of 15 circular MCFC, considering heat, mass and current transfer as well as chemical and electrochemical reactions is presented. The model validation is conducted using some preliminary experimental data obtained for a MCFC stack developed in the Fabbricazioni Nucleari laboratories. These results are examined in order to improve the stack configuration. It is shown that power density may be increased of about 20% through double side feeding. In addition, the average temperature gradients in the axial direction are reduced of more than 70%. Significant reductions in the temperature gradients, especially in transversal direction, can be achieved by adjusting the mass flow rate of cathodic gas supplied to the various cells. NOMENCLATUREEffective diffusion coefficient (m 2 s -1 )Mass diffusion coefficient (m 2 s -1 ) Apparent activation energy (K -1 ) Faraday constant (96487 C mol -1 ) Specific enthalpy (J kg -1 ) M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 4 Viscosity (m s -2 ) Density (kg m -3 ) Electric conductivity (Ω -1 m -1 ) Tortuosity Mass fraction of species i

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Section: Mcfc Stack Geometry and Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In [19] two stack configurations, co-flow and counter-flow, are compared using experimental analysis. In [20] the reverse problem is considered, i.e. the effects of bad flow distribution are simulated for a SOFC stack.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Design improvement of circular molten carbonate fuel cell stack through CFD Analysis

Verda

Sciacovelli

2011

Applied Thermal Engineering

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“…It is well known that nonuniform flow distribution will have a detrimental effect on the efficiency as well as the performance on the SOFC stack. Thus, optimization of the flow distribution profile will provide a higher power output [11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation on Flow Distribution in an External Manifold SOFC Stack by Computational Fluid Dynamics Technique

Wang

Yan

et al. 2014

Fuel Cells

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In this study, the flow distribution in a planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack with external manifolds is investigated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. Three dimensional external manifold models are constructed for a SOFC stack composed of 24 cells. CFD simulations with air as operating gas are implemented for two types of stacks with different inlet manifolds, including the manifold with three tube inlets (T-manifold) and the manifold with a gas chamber on top (C-manifold). The influences of different parameters such as channel resistance and gas feeding rate on flow distribution are studied. Modeling results indicate that the increase of channel resistance and a lower gas feeding rate can respectively improve the uniformity factor of Tmanifold and C-manifold from 0.963 to 0.995 and 0.989 to 0.998. For a given channel resistance, the pressure distribution in the inlet manifold plays a dominant role in the flow distribution. In addition, flow distribution in the stack with C-manifold is generally more uniform than the stack with Tmanifold. Furthermore, flow characteristics of the two type inlet manifolds are investigated by measuring velocity distribution of the gas at manifold outlets using a hot-wire anemometer.

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“…Cell voltages and temperatures were measured by probes and different computer models were built to predict the temperature and gas distribution inside the stack [16,17]. Those papers are mainly discussing the non-homogeneous state in a short external-manifold stack.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility study of an external manifold for planar intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells stack

Yan¹,

Zhu²,

Fang³

et al. 2013

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

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Effect of inlet flow maldistribution in the stacking direction on the performance of a solid oxide fuel cell stack

Cited by 29 publications

References 26 publications

Design improvement of circular molten carbonate fuel cell stack through CFD Analysis

Design improvement of circular molten carbonate fuel cell stack through CFD Analysis

Investigation on Flow Distribution in an External Manifold SOFC Stack by Computational Fluid Dynamics Technique

Feasibility study of an external manifold for planar intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells stack

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