Comprehensive computational fluid dynamics model of solid oxide fuel cell stacks

Nishida, Robert T.; Beale, Steven; Pharoah, Jon G.

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.05.103

Cited by 46 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The Nernst voltage ( E 0 ) depends on the reactant/product activities and the standard potential of the reaction ( E 0 ), as demonstrated in [ 20 ]:

where R is the universal gas constant, T is the temperature, F is Faraday’s constant, and a represents the activity of the reactant and product. The activation overpotential ( η ) of the reaction is computed using the open circuit voltage (OCV, E ), ohmic loss ( E ohm ), and Nernst voltage.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Analysis of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolyzer Using OpenFOAM®: Two-Phase Flow Regime, Electrochemical Model

Rho

et al. 2020

Membranes

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In this study, an electrochemical model was incorporated into a two-phase model using OpenFOAM® (London, United Kingdom) to analyze the two-phase flow and electrochemical behaviors in a polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzer. The performances of serpentine and parallel designs are compared. The current density and overpotential distribution are analyzed, and the volume fractions of oxygen and hydrogen velocity are studied to verify their influence on the current density. The current density decreases sharply when oxygen accumulates in the porous transport layer. Therefore, the current density increased sharply by 3000 A/m2 at an operating current density of 10,000 A/m2. Maldistribution of the overpotential is also observed. Second, we analyze the behaviors according to the current density. At a low current density, most of the oxygen flows out of the electrolyzer. Therefore, the decrease in performance is low. However, the current density is maldistributed when it is high, which results in decreased performance. The current density increases abruptly by 12,000 A/m2. Finally, the performances of the parallel and serpentine channels are analyzed. At a high current density, the performance of the serpentine channel is higher than that of the parallel channel by 0.016 V.

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“…The Nernst voltage ( E 0 ) depends on the reactant/product activities and the standard potential of the reaction ( E 0 ), as demonstrated in [ 20 ]:

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Analysis of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolyzer Using OpenFOAM®: Two-Phase Flow Regime, Electrochemical Model

Rho

et al. 2020

Membranes

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“…The thermal stress distributions in the electrolyte were attained by finite element method (FEM) modeling from simulated temperature distribution. In a recent study, Nishida et al presented simulations for large SOFC stacks with finite volume method (FVM) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code OpenFOAM . Except modeling the electrochemistry in SOFC PEN by obtaining lumped area specific resistance, the mass transport and energy transport were also resolved with resistance network.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three‐dimensional nonisothermal modeling of solid oxide fuel cell coupling electrochemical kinetics and species transport

Yan

Zhou

et al. 2019

Int J Energy Res

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Summary A three‐dimensional (3D) nonisothermal model is developed and applied for anode‐supported planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The mass and momentum, species, ion, electric, and heat transport equations are solved simultaneously by implementing the electrochemical kinetics and electrochemical reaction as volumetric source terms. The interconnect land limits the O2 transport under the land and lowers the local current density under the land. The effects of interconnect land width and cathode substrate thickness on SOFC cell performance are quantified in this study. Cathode stoichiometry is found to have a large effect on the SOFC cell temperature distribution. Under low‐cathode stoichiometry, significant temperature gradients are seen in the SOFC cell. Higher‐cathode stoichiometry is beneficial for lower temperature and more uniform current density distribution in SOFC cell. Co‐flow and counter‐flow arrangements are investigated and discussed with the model. Counter‐flow arrangement is found to induce a high temperature and high current density region near the H2 inlet. On the other hand, co‐flow arrangement leads high temperature and high current density to occur relatively downstream, a slightly lower maximum temperature on cell and considerably more uniform current density distribution. A 67.2‐cm2 SOFC cell is simulated considering the side cooling effect. The side cooling effectively lowers the cell temperature, at the same time, causes temperature, current density, and fuel utilization nonuniformity in the across multichannel direction. Because of the strong coupling of the in‐plane current density distribution and temperature distribution, limiting the locally high temperature and temperature gradient is critical for achieving a more uniform current density distribution in anode‐supported planar SOFC.

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“…In the past decades, many different structure designs of SOFC have been proposed and the 3D numerical approach was proven to be the proper approach to study the working details within the stack and achieve optimized geometric parameters [15][16][17]. Nishida et al [16] described the development and application of a new computational fluid dynamics model that allows large SOFC stacks to be studied within a practical calculation time. This model was used to demonstrate that the flow distribution of each cell in the 100-cell stack significantly affected the temperature distribution and overall electrochemical performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiphysics Field Distribution Characteristics within the One-Cell Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stack with Typical Interdigitated Flow Channels

Kukolin

Chen

et al. 2019

Applied Sciences

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Generally, the manufacturing technology of fuel cell units is considered to satisfy the current commercialization requirements. However, achieving a high-performance and durable stack design is still an obstacle in its commercialization. The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack is considered to have performance characteristics that are distinct from the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stacks. Within the SOFC stack, vapor is produced on the anode side instead of the cathode side and high flow resistance within the fuel flow path is recommended. In this paper, a 3D multiphysics model for a one-cell SOFC stack with the interdigitated channels for fuel flow path and conventional paralleled line-type rib channels for air flow path is firstly developed to predict the multiphysics distribution details. The model consists of all the stack components and couples well the momentum, species, and energy conservation and the quasi-electrochemical equations. Through the developed model, we can get the working details within those SOFC stacks with the above interdigitated flow channel features, such as the fuel and air flow feeding qualities over the electrode surface, hydrogen and oxygen concentration distributions within the porous electrodes, temperature gradient distribution characteristics, and so on. The simulated result shows that the multiphysics field distribution characteristics within the SOFC and PEMFC stacks with interdigitated flow channels feature could be very different. The SOFC stack using the paralleled line-type rib channels for air flow path and adopting the interdigitated flow channels for the fuel flow path can be expected to have good collaborative performances in the multiphysics field. This design would have good potential application after being experimentally confirmed.

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Comprehensive computational fluid dynamics model of solid oxide fuel cell stacks

Cited by 46 publications

References 47 publications

Performance Analysis of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolyzer Using OpenFOAM®: Two-Phase Flow Regime, Electrochemical Model

Performance Analysis of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolyzer Using OpenFOAM®: Two-Phase Flow Regime, Electrochemical Model

Three‐dimensional nonisothermal modeling of solid oxide fuel cell coupling electrochemical kinetics and species transport

Multiphysics Field Distribution Characteristics within the One-Cell Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stack with Typical Interdigitated Flow Channels

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