Open-source computational model of a solid oxide fuel cell

Beale, Steven; Choi, Haechul; Pharoah, Jon G.; Roth, Helmut; Jasak, Hrvoje; Jeon, Dong Hyup

doi:10.1016/j.cpc.2015.10.007

Cited by 68 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(3 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is partly an adaptation of the open-source computational model of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) presented by Beale et al [2] to a PEM fuel cell. This model is different from that of Beale et al [2] because: it is a different type of fuel cell, the geometry is different, the boundary conditions are different, and the electrochemistry is different.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CFD modeling and simulation of PEM fuel cell using OpenFOAM

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand -outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations. AbstractA proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is an electrolytic cell that converts chemical energy of hydrogen reacting with oxygen into electrical energy. To meet increasingly stringent application needs, improved performance and increased efficiency are paramount. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an ideal means for achieving these improvements. In this paper, a comprehensive CFD-based tool that can accurately simulate the major transport phenomena which take place within a PEM fuel cell is presented. The tool is developed using OpenFOAM and it can be used to rapidly gain insights into the cell working processes. The base case results are compared with previous model results and experimental data. The present I-V curve shows better agreement with the experimental trend at low current densities. The simulation data also indicate that the chosen concentration constant has very significant impact on the concentration overpotential. AbstractA proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is an electrolytic cell that converts chemical energy of hydrogen reacting with oxygen into electrical energy. To...

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CFD modeling and simulation of PEM fuel cell using OpenFOAM

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…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%

“…In a recent study, Nishida et al 20 presented simulations for large SOFC stacks with finite volume method (FVM) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code OpenFOAM. 21 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. Thus, the method is computational efficient, and the simulations of a large SOFC stack with 100 cells were shown in their study as demonstration.…”

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

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

“…However, there are quite a few challenges and/or difficulties for the open‐source platforms to be widely used: (1) Currently, the available programs and codes for LT‐PEMFC are still lacking; (2) compared to the commercial CFD software, the open‐source platform is less friendly to the researchers, due to the complicated program structure, leading to the low efficiency of coding and computation; (3) maintenance of the open‐source platform remains a challenge due to the lack of funding; (4) the users still need to use other software for pre‐processing (mesh generation for example) and post‐processing; (5) the open‐source code usually does not have good documentation, thus it is difficult for new users to learn and start; (6) development of the open‐source code require a certain level of programming skills, making it difficult to use for researchers not good at computer programming; (7) in the development of open‐source code, researchers may work on different versions, which may not be compatible with different operation system and make it inconvenient for code sharing. Despite these disadvantages, several research groups in Canada and European countries are actively developing fuel cell modelling using the open‐source code . The open‐source code (eg, Open FOAM) is still needed to be further developed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite these disadvantages, several research groups in Canada and European countries are actively developing fuel cell modelling using the open-source code. 26,27 The open-source code (eg, Open FOAM) is still needed to be further developed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and opportunities in modelling of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC)

Jiao

2017

Int. J. Energy Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Open-source computational model of a solid oxide fuel cell

Cited by 68 publications

References 61 publications

CFD modeling and simulation of PEM fuel cell using OpenFOAM

CFD modeling and simulation of PEM fuel cell using OpenFOAM

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

Challenges and opportunities in modelling of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About