Electrical Interaction Model of Planar SOFC Stack Fed with Natural Gas

Abstract

International audienceSolid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are energy conversion devices thatproduce electricity and heat directly from a fuel such asnatural gas. Little attention has been paid to the electricalbehaviour of a SOFC stack. This paper presents an electricalinteraction model of a planar anode supported intermediatetemperature SOFC stack with direct internal reforming. The SOFCstack model is built up of multiple single repeat units stackedon top of each other and takes into account, amongst otherparameters, contact resistances and gas flow. This assembly issandwiched between two end plates. A combined model with mass,charge and heat balances has been developed with a specialattention to the description of electrical behavior. Such anapproach can provide a picture of the two dimensionaldistribution of potential, current density, and temperature.Simulations are performed to analyse the impact of changes inmaterial conductivities, electrical configuration and operation conditions

A Three Dimensional Electrical Model of SOFC Stack

“…In consequence the importance of cell interactions will heavily depend on the interconnect material used for the SOFC. This kind of coupling was also studied by (8)(9)(10).…”

“…From this standpoint, reactant flow distributions and thermal management were generally investigated (5-7) while fuel cell stack models do not completely address interactions between cells and little information is available. Bultel et al (8) proposed a numerical investigation of the cell-to-cell variations by considering the impact of the flow distribution and heat transfer on a SOFC stack. Variations of cell voltage are observed due to asymmetries in the stack geometry and non-uniform flow rate.…”

A Three Dimensional Electrical Model of SOFC Stack

“…Little work has been devoted to the SOFC stack modelling and less to its electrical behaviour. From this standpoint, reactant flow distributions and thermal management were generally investigated (1-3) while fuel cell stack models do not completely address interactions between cells and little information is available (4).…”