• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.407-411
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• 2007

A 3-cell stacked anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell was designed and fabricated to achieve a complete gas seal and the facile stacking of components. The stack was assembled with a unit cell with $10{\times}10cm^2$ area, and each cell was interconnected by a stainless steel 430 separator using a proprietary sealant sheet. The stack performance was examined at various gas flow rates of $H_2+3.5vol%\;H_2O$, and air at a fixed temperature of $800^{\circ}C$. No gas leakage was found from the sealing between cells and inter-connects within a measurement system in this research during a prolonged time of 500 h in operation. The test resulted in an open circuit voltage of 3.12 V, a peak power of 149 W, and a power density of $0.61W/cm^2$, while the long term durability of the power showed 19.1% degradation during the prolonged time of 500 h when tested at $800^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.289-294
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• 2014

The stability of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack is strongly dependent on the magnitude and profile of the internal chemical potential of the solid electrolyte. If the internal partial pressure is too high, the electrolyte can be delaminated from the electrodes. The formation of high internal pressure is attributed to a negative cell voltage, and this phenomenon can occur in a bad cell (with higher resistance) in a stack. This fact implies that the internal chemical potential plays an important role in determining the lifetime of a stack. In the present work, we fabricate planar type anode-supported cells ($25cm^2$) with a bi-layer electrolyte (with locally increased electronic conduction at the anode side) to prevent high internal pressure, and we test the fabricated cells under a negative voltage condition. The results indicate that the addition of electronic conduction in the electrolyte can effectively depress internal pressure and improve the cell stability.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07d
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• pp.1870-1872
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• 1999

Performance of 20-cell stack for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was tested at constant temperature. Electrode evaluation used to the stack was tested by the performance of a single cell. A new composite electrode prepared from active carbon cloth and high porous active carbon was developed for hydrophilic layer of the cell. Characteristics of a single cell using the composite electrode showed the current density of $500mA/cm^2$ at the cell voltage of 0.4V at $120^{\circ}C$. For the operating of 20 days. the cell voltage at constant cell current densty of $100mA/cm^2$ was slightly reduced from 0.62V to 0.53V with the cell voltage decay rate of 14.5%. Power of 20-cell stack at 5.3V, $100^{\circ}C$ was about 180W.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.469-475
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• 2008

In this paper, control of small PEM(Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell stack by a microprocessor is introduced. The water management of fuel cell stack inside, a key technique in fuel cell control, can be achieved by adjusting the required air flow for fuel and cooling, and by purging the excessive water from the stack. It is very important to precisely control the BOS(Balance of Stack) since the stable operation of the fuel cell system mainly depends on it. In this study the fuel efficiency of the system is improved by the control of the system based on the measured air flow and purge cycle during the optimal operation and its effectiveness is proved by the experiments. The operating stability of the system is improved by the developed controller using a microprocessor and it is expected to be widely used for the control of small PEM fuel cell stack.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.134-141
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• 2010

Small PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell systems do not require humidification and have great commercialization possibilities. However, methods for controlling small PEM fuel cell stacks have not been clearly established. In this paper, a control method for small PEM fuel cell systems using a dual closed loop with a static feedforward structure is defined and realized using a DSP (Digital Signal Processor). The fundamental elements that need to be controlled in fuel cell systems include the supply of air and hydrogen, water management inside the stack, and heat management of the stack. For small PEM fuel cell stacks operated without a separate humidifier, fans are essential for air supply, heat management, and water management of the stack. A purge valve discharges surplus water from the stack. The proposed method controls the fan using double control loops to quicken transient response of the fan thereby improving the supply rate of air. Feedback control to compensate for the voltage change in fuel cell stack improves the response characteristics in fuel cell to load variations. The feasibility of proposed method was proved by the experiments with a 60W small PEM fuel cell system and operation of a notebook computer using this system.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.311-319
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• 2013

A clear understanding on cell voltage-reversal behavior due to local hydrogen starvation in a stack is of paramount importance to operate the fuel cell vehicle (FCV) stably since it affects significantly the cell performance and durability. In the present study, a novel experimental method to simulate the local cell voltage-reversal behavior caused by local hydrogen starvation, which typically occurs only one or several cells out of several hundred cells in a stack of FCV, has been proposed. Contrary to the conventional method of overall fuel starvation, the present method of local hydrogen starvation caused the local cell voltage-reversal behavior in a stack very well. Degradation of both membrane electrode assembly (i.e., pin-hole formation) and gas diffusion layer due to an excessive exothermic heat under voltage-reversal condition was also observed clearly.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.107-118
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• 1999

A 5-kW MCFC stack with $3,000cm^2$ electrode area was tested to investigate cell performance and operation characteristics. The stack performance was evaluated based on electrical output and I-V change. The stack showed high cell performance (7.6 kW) than the design performance and operated for more than 5,760 hours, but a significant temperature gradient inside the stack was observed. A 3-dimensional mathematical model for molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) was developed for the purpose of simulation of stack performance during the operation. The model was solved using PHOENICS, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. The simulation result demonstrated a close prediction of the temperature gradient and stack performance.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.376-379
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• 2006

In this paper, stack voltage monitoring module is developed which monitor cell voltage of the fuel cell stack and transfer it to the main controller for monitoring fault and stopping drive when the trouble is happened in the fuel cell stack. Especially, the circuit, for monitoring each cell voltage of several hundreds cells in stack, is designed and analyzed. The connector is also developed for making wire harness simple and low cost because wire harness is complicated when the cells are connect each monitoring circuit.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.137-141
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• 2007

The startup behaviour of PEM fuel cells at subfreeze zero is one of the most challenging tasks to be solved before PEM fuel cell vehicle is commercialized. Automotive companies are trying to increase cold statup capability of fuel cell. In this study, we found out the design factor of the stack to increase cold startup capability using 4kW stack and then cold startup test was performed at the various shutdown condition and the various current. In order to test the cold startup possibility and capability in vehicle, we installed 80kW stack in the vehicle and this 80kW fuel cell vehicle was housed in an environmental chamber to investigate the characteristics of cold startup and driving. We found that it is possible for fuel cell vehicle with 80kW stack to self-heated cold startup and drive at $-15^{\circ}C$.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.144-154
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• 2016

HT-PEMFC (high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell) using PA (phosphoric acid) doped PBI (polybenzimidazole) membrane has been researched for extending the lifetime. However, the existing work on durability of HT-PEMFC focuses on identifying degradation causes of lab scale. The short life time of HT-PEMFC is still the problem for its commercialization. In this paper, an operating method to maximize life time of 5kW HT-PEMFC stack are proposed. The proposed method includes major steps such as minimization of OCV (Open Circuit Voltage) exposure, control of the proper stack temperature, and N2 purging for the stack. This long life operating method was based on the fragmentary results of degradation from previous research works. Experimentally, the 5 kW homemade HT-PEMFC stack was operated for a long time based on the proposed method and the stack successfully can operate within the desired degradation rate for the target life time.