• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.343-350
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• 2012

A planar solid oxide fuel cell (PSOFC) is studied in its application in a high-temperature stationary power plant. Even though PSOFCs with external reformers are designed for application from the distributed power source to the central power plant, such PSOFCs may sacrifice more system efficiency than internally reformed SOFCs. In this study, modeling of the PSOFC with an external reformer was developed to analyze the feasibility of thermal energy utilization for the external reformer. The PSOFC system model includes the stack, reformer, burner, heat exchanger, blower, pump, PID controller, 3-way valve, reactor, mixer, and steam separator. The model was developed under the Matlab/Simulink environment with Thermolib$^{(R)}$ modules. The model was used to study the system performance according to its configuration. Three configurations of the SOFC system were selected for the comparison of the system performance. The system configuration considered the cathode recirculation, thermal sources for the external reformer, heat-up of operating gases, and condensate anode off-gas for the enhancement of the fuel concentration. The simulation results show that the magnitude of the electric efficiency of the PSOFC system for Case 2 is 12.13% higher than that for Case 1 (reference case), and the thermal efficiency of the PSOFC system for Case 3 is 76.12%, which is the highest of all the cases investigated.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.1 no.4 s.4
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• pp.12-18
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• 2005

세계적으로 수소에너지를 미래 에너지의 대안으로 여겨지고 있기 때문에 수소에너지 관련기술은 미래 국가 경쟁력을 좌우할 것으로 예상되고 있으며 수소에너지시대의 핵심인 수소스테이션 관련기술을 개발은 국가 연료전지 시장을 비롯한 수소 자동차 산업 전반에 큰 영향을 미칠 것으로 예상되고 있다. 이에 따라 전 세계적으로 수소에너지를 차세대 에너지원으로 개발하기 위하여 전력을 다하고 있으며 수소제조기술개발 및 수소스테이션 실증연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 수소스테이션용 $20Nm^3$/hr급 컴팩트형 고효율 수소제조장치 기술개발내용에 대하여 소개하고자 한다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.156.1-156.1
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• 2011

It is of great importance to predict operating parameter characteristics of an integrated fuel processor by the increased life-time and system performance. In this study, computational analysis is performed to gain fundamental insights on transport phenomena and chemical reactions in reformer which consists of preheating, steam reforming, and water gas shift reaction beds. Also, a top-fired burner locates inside of the reforming system. The combustor is providing thermal energy necessary for the steam reforming bed which is a endothermic catalytic reactor. Two-dimensional numerical model of the integrated fuel processing system is introduced for the analysis of heat and mass transport phenomena as well as surface kinetics and catalytic process. A kinetic model was developed and then computational results were compared with the experimental data available in the literature. Subsequently, parameter study using the validated steam methane reforming model was conducted by considering operating parameters, i.e. steam to carbon ratio and temperature.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.364-377
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• 2014

The performances of a coupled reactor in which a steam reformer and a catalytic combustor were mounted simultaneously had been investigated and compared. The combustible offgas exhausted from the anode of SOFC and MCFC were utilized as heat sources for the endothermic steam methane reforming. The catalytic combustion was used in order to burn the combustible offgas. Thermal energy released by the catalytic combustion is directly transferred to the reformer surrounding the combustor. The various operational conditions such as fuel utilization rate, steam to carbon ratio, amount of catalysts, fuel cell loads were changed. And operating variables were comprehensively identified by sensitivity analysis. The fundamental results from this experimental study show the potential abilities of the coupled reactor. Therefore the results will be of help to design and manufacture the more better coupled reactor in the future.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.111.1-111.1
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• 2010

This paper focuses on a systematic configuration of steam reforming fuel processor, particularly designed for small and medium sized hydrogen production application. In a typical integration of the fuel processor, there exist significant temperature gradients over the entire system which has negative effect on both catalyst life-time and system performance. Also, the volumetric inefficiency should be avoided to obtain the possible compactness for the commercial purpose. In the present work, the computational analysis will be performed to gain the fundamental insight on the transport phenomena and chemical reactions in the reformer consisting of preheating, steam reforming (SR), and water gas shift (WGS) reaction beds in the flow direction. Also, the fuel processing system includes a top-fired burner providing necessary thermal energy for endothermic catalytic reactor. A fully two-dimensional numerical modeling for a integrated fuel processing system is introduced for in-depth analysis of the heat and mass transport phenomena based on surface kinetics and catalytic process. In the model, water gas shift reaction and decomposition reaction were assumed to be at equilibrium. A kinetic model was developed and then computational results were compared with the experimental data available in the literature. Finally, the case study was done by considering the key parameters, i.e. steam to carbon (S/C) ratio and temperature. The computer-aided models developed in this study can be greatly utilized for the design of advanced fast-paced compact fuel processors research.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.800-809
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• 2011

The reaction characteristics of an integrated reactor with steam reformer and catalytic combustor using anode offgas for high temperature fuel cells such as MCFC and SOFC have been experimentally investigated in the present study. The coupled reactor had a coaxial cylindrical shape, and the inner and the outer tube was packed with combustion catalysts and reforming catalysts, respectively. Thus, the endothermic steam reforming could proceed by absorbing heat from catalytic combustion of anode offgas. Results show that increasing inlet temperature and decreasing excess air ratio increased the reformer temperature, which led to the increase in $H_2$ yield. The reforming performance for SOFC conditions was better than that for MCFC conditions since the composition of flammable components became smaller for MCFC cases. Measured reformate composition under various test conditions correlated well with thermal equilibrium composition.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.24-27
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• 2007

한국에너지기술연구원에서는 가정용 고분자연료전지 열병합 발전시스템을 위한 통합형 천연가스 연료처리 시스템을 개발해 왔다. 본 고에서는 연료처리 시스템의 운전 시 모사 연료극 가스 공급이 미치는 영향에 대해 고찰하고, 부하 변동 시 각 단위 공정의 온도 변화와 CO 농도 변화 현상에 대처하기 위한 방법을 제시하고자 한다.

• Plant Journal
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.45-51
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• 2014

This study performs several experiments on a newly developed temperature safety system that can be used for residential building heating systems, the heat source of which is derived from a conventional fuel cell. Prior to this, the hot water made from a fuel cell was not used in residential housing but just went to waste. The present safety system is installed in the current underfloor heating system. At first we used the CFD technique to develop a new heat exchanger. The fuel cell must satisfy the thermal conditions of the inlet temperature being $55^{\circ}C$ and the outlet temperature being $60^{\circ}C$. But variations in weather cause fluctuations in the heating water temperature. The experimental results show our new system capable of maintaining the temperature difference within a ${\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ range. So we believe that our new PFMFC fuel cell stack array is a good candidate for being used in residential heating systems.