Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society (한국수소및신에너지학회논문집)

The Korean Hydrogen and New Energy Society (한국수소및신에너지학회)
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Study on the Effects of the Flow Characteristics and Size on the Peformance of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells Using CFD

CFD를 통한 용융탄산염 연료전지의 유동 및 크기에 따른 운전 특성 분석

  • KIM, DONG-WOO (Department of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology) ;
  • KIM, HA-YOUNG (Department of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology) ;
  • CHOI, JEONG-HWAN (Department of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology) ;
  • LEE, CHANG-WHAN (Department of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology)
  • 김동우 (서울과학기술대학교 기계시스템디자인공학과) ;
  • 김하영 (서울과학기술대학교 기계시스템디자인공학과) ;
  • 최정환 (서울과학기술대학교 기계시스템디자인공학과) ;
  • 이창환 (서울과학기술대학교 기계시스템디자인공학과)
  • Received : 2019.02.19
  • Accepted : 2019.04.30
  • Published : 2019.04.30
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Abstract

In this study, effects of flow types and size of molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) were investigated using CFD simulation. In the simulation, the current collector of MCFCs were assumed to be an porous media. With the area of $0.09m^2$, the effect of flow types such as Co-flow, Counter-flow, Cross-flow were studied. After that the effect of the size and flow direction was studied. Among three-flow types, MCFCs with co-flow type shows more uniform distribution and current density distribution.

Keywords

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Fig. 1. Simulation result for the effective thermal conductivity

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Fig. 2. Simulation model for the equivalent properties of thecurrent collector

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Fig. 4. Current density and temperature distribution of current density distribution of the counter-flow type MCFC

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Fig. 5. Current density and temperature distribution of 0.3 m×0.3 m co-flow type MCFC

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Fig. 6. Current density and temperature distribution of 0.3 m×0.3 m cross-flow type MCFC

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Fig. 7. Current density and temperature distribution of the 0.25 m2 cell and at the cell voltage of 0.9 V: (a) and (b) are co-flow; (b) and (c) are cross-flow; (e) and (f) are counter-flow

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Fig. 8. Maximum current density value with respect to the cell area and flow type at 0.9 V

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Fig. 9. Maximum temperature value with respect to the cell area and flow type at the cell voltage of 0.9 V

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Fig. 3. Relationship of the pressure difference with respect to the input average velocity

Table 1. Thermal properties of the anode and the cathode

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References

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