Development of Large-Scale and Quasi Multi-Physics Model for Whole Structure of the Typical Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stacks

Although the performance and corresponding manufacturing technology of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) units have greatly improved and have met commercial requirements over the past decades, they are constructed such that they perform poorly and lack strong duration outputs. Therefore, achieving high...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jie Ma, Suning Ma, Xinyi Zhang, Daifen Chen, Juan He
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-08-01
Series:Sustainability
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3094
Description
Summary:Although the performance and corresponding manufacturing technology of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) units have greatly improved and have met commercial requirements over the past decades, they are constructed such that they perform poorly and lack strong duration outputs. Therefore, achieving high performance and extending duration at a stack level are challenges faced by the development process. This paper develops a large-scale and multiphysics model for the complete structure of a typical 10-cell SOFC stack. It includes solid components, flow paths, and porous sections—solid ribs, interconnectors, anode support, anode function layer, electrolyte layer, cathode layer, air/fuel feed manifolds, feed header, rib channels, exhaust header and outlet manifolds. The multiphysics application includes momentum, mass, energy and quasi electrochemical transporting; and their mutual coupling processes within the stack. This new model can help us understand the working specifics of the large-scale stack, obtaining distribution details of static pressure, species fraction, and temperature gradient; further addressing optimization of structure and operation parameters. These details serve as guidelines for practical structural designs and parameters in real stack levels.
ISSN:2071-1050