• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.8-15
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• 2007

Liquid water in flow channel is an important factor that limits the steady and transient performance of PEM fuel cells. A computational fluid dynamics study based on the volume-of-fluid [VOF] multi-phase model was conducted to understand the two-phase flow behavior of liquid water in cathode gas channels. The liquid water transport in $180^{\circ}{\Delta}$ bends was investigated, where the effects of surface characteristics (hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces], channel geometries (rectangular and chamfered corners], and air velocity in channel were discussed. The two-phase flow behavior of liquid water with hydrophilic channel surface and that with hydrophobic surface was found very different; liquid water preferentially flows along the corners of flow channel in hydrophilic channels while it flows in rather spherical shape in hydrophobic channels. The results showed that liquid water transport was generally enhanced when hydrophobic channel with rounded corners was used. However, the surface characteristics and channel geometries became less important when air velocity was increased over 10m/s. This study is believed to provide a useful guideline for design optimization of flow patterns or channel configurations of PEM fuel cells.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.1173-1185
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• 2008

The design methods of the road surface drainage facilities were compared for the improvement of design method. We have developed four computational design models classified by the methods to determine the duration of design rainfall and to analyze the flow of a linear drainage channel. The critical duration was determined by assuming the critical duration to be 10 minutes or by finding the duration of design storm being similar to the travel time of flow by trial and error. The flow of a linear drainage channel was analyzed as the uniform flow or the varied flow. The design models were applied to the artificial road surface drainage facilities with various channel slopes and road shoulder slopes. If the rainfall intensity of the 10 minutes duration was applied, the outlet spacing obtained from the design based on the varied flow analysis was larger than the uniform flow analysis only when the channel slope and the road shoulder slope was small. On the other hands, if the duration of design rainfall was determined by calculating the travel time, the varied flow analysis brought about larger outlet spacing than the uniform analysis for all conditions. However, the model of the critical duration concept and the varied flow analysis resulted in smaller outlet spacing than the current design method employing the rainfall of 10 minutes duration and the uniform flow analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.502-516
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• 2002

Wolsong NPP are CANDU6 type reactors and there are 4 CANDU6 type reactors in commercial operation. CANDU type reactors require on-power refuelling by two remote controlled F/Ms (Fuelling Machines). Most of channels, fuel bundles are float by channel coolant flow and move toward downstream, however in about 30% of channels the coolant flow are not sufficient enough to carry fuel bundles to downstream. For those channels a special device, FARE (Flow Assist Ram Extension) device, is used to create additional force to push fuel bundles. It has been showing that during fuelling operation of some channels the channel coolant flow rate is reduced below specified limit (80% of normal), and consequently trip alarm signal turns on. This phenomenon occurs on selected channels that are instrumented for the channel flow and required to use the FARE device for refuelling. Hence it is believed that the FARE device causes the problem. It is also suspected that other channels that do not use the FARE device for refuelling might also go into channel flow low state. The analysis revealed that the channel How low occurs as the FARE device is introduced into the core and disappears as the FARE device is removed from the core. This paper presented the FARE device behavior, detailed fuelling operation sequence with the FARE device and effect on channel flow low phenomena. The FARE device components design changes are also suggested, such as increasing the number or now holes in the tube and flow slots in the ring orifice.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.507-513
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• 2001

Time averaged pressure distributions in a high-speed centrifugal compressor channel diffuser at design and off-design flow rates are investigated. Pressure distributions from the impeller exit to the channel diffuser exit are measured for various flow rates from choke to near surge condition, and the effects of operating condition are discussed. The strong non-uniformity in the pressure distribution is obtained over the vaneless space and semi-vaneless space caused by the impeller-diffuser interaction. As the flow rate increases, flow separation near the throat, due to large incidence angle at the vane leading edge, increases aerodynamic blockage and reduces the aerodynamic flow area downstream. Thus the minimum pressure location occurs downstream of the geometric throat, and it is named as the aerodynamic throat. And at choke condition, normal shock occurs downstream of this aerodynamic throat. The variation in the location of the aerodynamic throat is discussed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.834-839
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• 2009

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is performed to investigate flow characteristics in the anode channels and manifold of the internal reforming type molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). Considering the computational difficulties associated with the size and geometric complexity of the MCFC system, the polyhedral meshes that can reduce mesh connectivity problems at the intersection of the channel and the manifold are adopted and chemical reactions inside the MCFC system are not included. Through this study, the gas flow rate uniformity of the anode channels is mainly analyzed to provide basic insights into improved design parameters for anode flow channel design. Results indicate that the uniformity in flow-rate is in the range of ${\pm}$1% between the anode channels. Also, the mal-distributed inlet flow-rate conditions and the change in the size of the manifold depth have no significant effect on the flow-rate uniformity of the anode channels.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.3120-3124
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• 2008

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is performed to investigate flow characteristics in the anode channels and manifold of the internal reforming type molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). Considering the computational difficulties associated with the size and geometric complexity of the MCFC system, the polyhedral meshes that can reduce mesh connectivity problems at the intersection of the channel and the manifold are adopted and chemical reactions inside the MCFC system are not included. Through this study, the gas flow rate uniformity of the anode channels is mainly analyzed to provide basic insights into improved design parameters for anode flow channel design. Results indicate that the uniformity in flow-rate is in the range of ${\pm}1%$ between the anode channels. Also, the mal-distributed inlet flow-rate conditions and the change in the size of the manifold depth have no significant effect on the flow-rate uniformity of the anode channels.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2291-2296
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• 2007

Thermal transport from vertical heated surface to falling liquid film in a channel has been investigated experimentally. Air-flow is introduced into channel to make a counter flow against falling liquid film. This problem is of particular interest in the design of direct contact heat exchange system, such as cooling tower, evaporative cooling system, absorption cooling system, and distillation system. The effects of channel width and air flow rate on the heat transfer to falling liquid film are studied in detail. The results obtained indicate that heat transfer rate is gradually decreased with an increase in the channel width without air flow as well as with air flow in a channel. It is also found that heat transfer rate of air-flow is increased while heat transfer rate of falling liquid film is decreased with an increase in the air flow rate at a given channel width. However, total heat transfer rate form the heated surface is increased as the air flow rate is increased.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.335-341
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• 2008

Thermal transport from vertical heated surface to falling liquid film in a channel has been investigated experimentally. Air-flow is introduced into channel to make a counter flow against falling liquid film. This problem is of particular interest in the design of direct contact heat exchange system, such as cooling tower, evaporative cooling system, absorption cooling system, and distillation system. The effects of channel width and air flow rate on the heat transfer to falling liquid film are studied in detail. The results obtained indicate that heat transfer rate is gradually decreased with an increase in the channel width without air flow as well as with air flow in a channel. It is also found that heat transfer rate of air-flow is increased while heat transfer rate of falling liquid film is decreased with an increase in the air flow rate at a given channel width. However, total heat transfer rate from the heated surface is increased as the air flow rate is increased.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.761-769
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• 2007

The configuration of the flow channel on a bipolar plate of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) for efficient reactant supply has great influence on the performance of the fuel cell. Recent demand for higher energy density fuel cells requires an increase in current density at mid voltage range and a decrease in concentration overvoltage at high current density. Therefore, an interdigitated flow channel where mass transfer rate by convection through a gas diffusion layer is greater than the mass transfer by a diffusion mechanism through a gas diffusion layer was recently proposed. This study attempts to analyze the i-V performance, mass transfer and pressure drop in interdigitated flow channels by developing a fully three dimensional simulation model for PEMFC that can deal with anode and cathode flow together. The results indicate that the trade off between performance and pressure loss should be considered for efficient design of flow channels. Although the performance of the fuel cell with interdigitated flow is better than that with conventional flow channels due to a strong mass transfer rate by convection across a gas diffusion layer, there is also an increase in friction due to the strong convection through the porous diffusion layer accompanied by a larger pressure drop along the flow channel. It was evident that the proper selection of the ratio of channel and rib width under counter flow conditions in the fuel cell with interdigitated flow are necessary to optimize the interdigitated flow field design.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.138-145
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• 2017

The problem of non-uniform inflow exists in many practical engineering applications, such as the elbow suction pipe of waterjet pump and, the channel head of steam generator which is directly connect with reactor coolant pump. Generally, pumps are identical designs and are selected based on performance under uniform inflow with the straight pipe, but actually non-uniform suction flow is induced by upstream equipment. In this paper, CFD approach was employed to analyze unsteady hydrodynamic characteristics of reactor coolant pumps with different inflows. The Reynolds-averaged Naiver-Stokes equations with the $k-{\varepsilon}$ turbulence model were solved by the computational fluid dynamics software CFX to conduct the steady and unsteady numerical simulation. The numerical results of the straight pipe and channel head were validated with experimental data for the heads at different flow coefficients. In the nominal flow rate, the head of the pump with the channel head decreases by 1.19% when compared to the straight pipe. The complicated structure of channel head induces the inlet flow non-uniform. The non-uniformity of the inflow induces the difference of vorticity distribution at the outlet of the pump. The variation law of blade to blade velocity at different flow rate and the difference of blade to blade velocity with different inflow are researched. The effects of non-uniform inflow on radial forces are absolutely different from the uniform inflow. For the radial forces at the frequency $f_R$, the corresponding amplitude of channel head are higher than the straight pipe at $1.0{\Phi}_d$ and $1.2{\Phi}_d$ flow rates, and the corresponding amplitude of channel head are lower than the straight pipe at $0.8{\Phi}_d$ flow rates.