• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2008

The end plates of fuel cell assemblies are used to fasten the inner stacks, reduce the contact pressure, and provide a seal between Membrane-Electrode Assemblies (MEAs). They therefore require sufficient mechanical strength to withstand the tightening pressure, light weight to obtain high energy densities, and stable chemical/electrochemical properties, as well as provide electrical insulation. The design criteria for end plates can be divided into three parts: the material, connecting method, and shape. In the past, end plates were made from metals such as aluminum, titanium, and stainless steel alloys, but due to corrosion problems, thermal losses, and their excessive weight, alternative materials such as plastics have been considered. Composite materials consisting of combinations of two or more materials have also been proposed for end plates to enhance their mechanical strength. Tie-rods have been traditionally used to connect end plates, but since the number of connecting parts has increased, resulting in assembly difficulties, new types of connectors have been contemplated. Ideas such as adding reinforcement or flat plates, or using bands or boxes to replace tie-rods have been proposed. Typical end plates are rectangular or cylindrical solid plates. To minimize the weight and provide a uniform pressure distribution, new concepts such as ribbed-, bomb-, or bow-shaped plates have been considered. Even though end plates were not an issue in fuel cell system designs in the past, they now provide a great challenge for designers. Changes in the materials, connecting methods, and shapes of an end plate allow us to achieve lighter, stronger end plates, resulting in more efficient fuel cell systems.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.273-287
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• 2006

This study investigates the failure mechanism and load-carrying capacity of a single-shell lining which has no disturbance in transfer of shear force, with respect to a conventional double-shell lining which has separation between layers of shotcrete lining and secondary concrete lining by water-proof membrane. In order to evaluate the capacity, a 2-D numerical investigation is preliminarily carried out and then real-scale loading tests with tunnel lining section specimens are performed on the condition given by the numerical investigation. In the test, a concentrated load is applied for considering a released ground load or rock wedge load. Through this study, it appears that the single-shell lining takes the load-bearing capacity 20% higher than in case of the double-shell lining. In addition, a possibility of a composite single-shell shotcrete layer composed by multiple bonded layers partly involving different contents of high-capacity additives is shown thereby leading to use of less amount of the high-capacity additives on the condition of taking a similar load-bearing capacity.

• Carbon letters
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.38-40
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• 2010

Carbon supported electrocatalysts are commonly used as electrode materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs). These kinds of electrocatalysts provide large surface area and sufficient electrical conductivity. The support of typical PEM fuel cell catalysts has been a traditional conductive type of carbon black. However, even though the carbon particles conduct electrons, there is still significant portion of Pt that is isolated from the external circuit and the PEM, resulting in a low Pt utilization. Herein, new types of carbon materials to effectively utilize the Pt catalyst are being evaluated. Carbon nanofiber/activated carbon fiber (CNF/ACF) composite with multifunctional surfaces were prepared through catalytic growth of CNFs on ACFs. Nickel nitrate was used as a precursor of the catalyst to synthesize carbon nanofibers(CNFs). CNFs were synthesized by pyrolysising $CH_4$ using catalysts dispersed in acetone and ACF(activated carbon fiber). The as-prepared samples were characterized with transmission electron microscopy(TEM), scanning electron microscopy(SEM). In TEM image, carbon nanofibers were synthesized on the ACF to form a three-dimensional network. Pt/CNF/ACF was employed as a catalyst for PEMFC. As the ratio of prepared catalyst to commercial catalyst was changed from 0 to 50%, the performance of the mixture of 30 wt% of Pt/CNF/ACF and 70wt% of Pt/C commercial catalyst showed better perfromance than that of 100% commercial catalyst. The unique structure of CNF can supply the significant site for the stabilization of Pt particles. CNF/ACF is expected to be promising support to improve the performance in PEMFC.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.293-298
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• 2014

We prepared hydrophilic porous supporters for the reinforced composite fuel cell membrane by radiation grafting of acrylonitrile (AN) and hydrophilic sodium allylsulfonate (SAS) into a porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) supporter. The physicochemical properties of the supporters prepared under various reaction conditions such as molar ratio of SAS/AN, monomer concentration, and irradiation dose were evaluated. FTIR was utilized to confirm the successful introduction of SAS/AN copolymer chains into the porous PTFE. The pores of the porous PTFE film were found to be decreased with an increase in the degree of grafting by using FE-SEM and gurley number. Furthermore, by analyzing the degree of grafting, contact angle, and TBO (toluidine blue O) uptake, the hydrophilicity of the prepared supporters was found to increase with an increase in the degree of grafting.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2012

A lightweight 200W direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) stack is designed and fabricated to power a small scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The DMFC stack consists of 33-cells in which membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) having an active area of 88 $cm^2$ are sandwiched with lightweight composite bipolar plates. The total stack weight is around 3.485 kg and stack performance is tested under various methanol feed concentrations. The DMFC stack delivers a maximum power of 248 W at 13.2 V and $71.3^{\circ}C$ under methanol feed concentration of 1.2 M. In addition, the voltage of individual cell in the 33-cell stack is measured at various current levels to ensure the stability of DMFC stack operations. The cell voltage distribution data exhibit the maximum cell voltage deviation of 28 mV at 15 A and hence the uniformity of cell voltages is acceptable. These results clearly demonstrate that DMFC technology becomes a potential candidate for small-scale UAV applications.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.168-174
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• 2020

Recently, the size of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) carriers has been increasing, in turn increasing the load generated during operation. To handle this load, the thickness of LNG Cargo Containment Systems (CCSs) should be increased. Despite increasing the thickness of LNG CCSs, a secondary barrier is still used in conventional thickness. Therefore, the mechanical performance of the existing secondary barrier should be verified. In this study, tensile test of the secondary barrier was performed to evaluate mechanical properties under several low- and cryogenic-temperature conditions considering LNG environment, and in each fiber direction considering that the secondary barrier is composed of anisotropic composite materials depending on the glass fibers. Additionally, the coefficient of thermal expansion was measured by considering the degradation of the mechanical properties of the secondary barrier caused by the generated thermal stress during periodical unloading. As a result, the mechanical performance of secondary barrier in the Machine Direction (MD) was generally found to be superior than that in the Transverse Direction (TD) owing to the warp interlock structure of the glass fibers.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.50-60
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• 2013

High temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) using phosphoric acid (PA) doped polybenzimidazole (PBI) membranes have been concentrated as one of solutions to the limits with traditional low temperature PEMFCs. However, the amount of reported experimental data is not enough to catch the operational characteristics correlated with cell performance and durability. In this study, design of experiments (DOE) based operational optimization method for high temperature PEMFCs has been proposed. Response surface method (RSM) is very useful to effectively analyze target system's characteristics and to optimize operating conditions for a short time. Thus RSM using central composite design (CCD) as one of methodologies for design of experiments (DOE) was adopted. For this work, the statistic models which predict the performance and degradation rate with respect to the operating conditions have been developed. The developed performance and degradation models exhibit a good agreement with experimental data. Compared to the existing arbitrary operation, the expected cell lifetime and average cell performance during whole operation could be improved by optimizing operating conditions. Furthermore, the proposed optimization method could find different new optimal solutions for operating conditions if the target lifetime of the fuel cell system is changed. It is expected that the proposed method is very useful to find optimal operating conditions and enhance performance and durability for many other types of fuel cell systems.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.87-95
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• 2019

Esterase produced by Acinetobacter sp. B1 (strain B1) was optimized by means of one-variable-at-a-time and response surface methodologies. Results of the one-variable-at-a-time experiment showed that Tween 80 significantly increased esterase production of strain B1. The addition of Tween 80 to the culture medium increased the biomass and esterase activity of strain B1, stimulated content of total extracellular protein, and enhanced the oleic acid (C18:1) composition in the cell membrane of strain B1. The influence of eight culture variables on esterase production was evaluated by Plackett-Burman design. Results showed that Tween 80, pH, and $K_2HPO_4$ significantly affected the esterase production of strain B1. Tween 80, pH, and $K_2HPO_4$ were further optimized by central composite design. Under the optimized conditions (w/v, soluble starch 2.5%, tryptone 1.5%, Tween 80 0.8%, $K_2HPO_4$ 0.5%, NaCl 0.5%, pH 8.0, inoculum size 1%, and inoculum age 24 h), the maximum esterase activity of strain B1 was 152.13 U/ml, which was 10-fold higher than that of non-optimization after 36 h cultivation.

• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.28-33
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• 2007

The puncture properties of short-fiber reinforced rubber were investigated as functions of fiber aspect ratio(AR: length of fiber/diameter of fiber), fiber content, specimen size and testing velocity. The puncture stresses of the matrix and short-fiber reinforced rubber decreased with specimen size, and increased with testing velocity at same specimen size. As the fiber AR increased the puncture stress at given fiber content also increased. The problem of the specimen shape was investigated by the comparison of the tensile strength with puncture stress. The forces acting in the membrane wall of the matrix and the short-fiber reinforced rubber showed a similar data regardless of specimen size. And those increased with testing velocity at same specimen size. As the fiber AR increased the force acting in the wall at given fiber content also increased. Overall, it was found that the specimen size, testing velocity had an important effects on the puncture properties.

• Composites Research
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2024

In this research, we introduce a novel approach that employs a 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) model to predict the permeability of Gas Diffusion Layers (GDLs). For training the model, we create an artificial dataset of GDL representative volume elements (RVEs) by extracting morphological characteristics from actual GDL images obtained through X-ray tomography. These morphological attributes involve statistical distributions of porosity, fiber orientation, and diameter. Subsequently, a permeability analysis using the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) is conducted on a collection of 10,800 RVEs. The 3D CNN model, trained on this artificial dataset, well predicts the permeability of actual GDLs.