• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제51권3호
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• pp.370-375
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• 2013

We analyze the effects of CO poisoning and air bleeding on the performance of a PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cell stack fabricated using commercial MEA (membrane electrode assembly). Dynamic response data from the experiments on the performance of a stack are identified by obtaining steady-state gains and time-constants of the first-order system model expressed as a first-order differential equation. It is found that the cell voltage of the stack decreases by 1.3-1.6 mV as the CO concentration rises by 1 ppm. The time elapsed to reach a new steady state after a change in the CO concentration is shortened as the magnitude of the change in the CO concentration increases. In general, the steady-state gain becomes bigger and the time-constant gets smaller with increasing the air concentration (air-bleeding level) in the reformate gas to restore the cell voltage. However, it is possible to recover 87%-96% of the original cell voltages, which are measured with free of CO, within 1-30 min by introducing the bleed air as much as 1% of the reformate gas into the stack.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.60-66
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• 2007

In terms of the vehicle efficiency, a fuel cell hybrid system has advantages compared to a conventional internal combustion engine and a fuel cell alone-powered system. The efficiency of the fuel cell hybrid vehicle mainly depends on the maximum power of the fuel cell and therefore it is important to decide the design value of the fuel cell maximum power. In this paper, to estimate the performance of the fuel cell hybrid mini-bus in the design phase the simulator based on the models for the fuel cell stack, the electric battery, the fuel cell balance of plant, the controller, and the vehicle itself is proposed. Additionally, the hybrid mini-bus efficiencies with several different fuel cell powers are simulated for a city driving schedule and are compared on another. Consequently, the proposed simulation scheme is useful to determine the best design value of the fuel cell hybrid vehicles.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.185-189
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• 2010

This study considered the feasibility of controlling the air concentration by oscillating flow in fuel cell channels. The fuel cell stack performance is largely influenced by the air concentration. If the air concentration is lower than 2.5 times the stoichiometric of the inlet air, the fuel cell stack performance seriously deteriorates because of air starvation. In this respect, optimizing the air concentration is crucially important to maximizing the fuel cell stack performance. In this work, the effects of oscillating actuation were studied to control the concentration. Studies have shown that there are two non-dimensional key parameters related to the frequency and oscillating amplitude. This paper presents how those parameters affect the performance of the stack.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• 제43권12호
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• pp.812-822
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• 2006

This study amis to investigate the functional analysis of anode and cathode materials in Anode supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell. The concentration polarization of single cell was investigated with CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) method for the case of the different morphology by using four types of unit cell and discussed to reduce the concentration polarization. The concentration polarization at anode side effected the voltage loss in Anode supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and increased contact areas between fuel gas and anode side could reduce the concentration polarization. For intermediate temperature operation, Anode-supported single cells with thin electrolyte layer of YSZ (Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia) were fabricated and short stacks were built and evaluated. We also developed diesel and methane autothermal reforming (ATR) reactors in order to provide fuels to SOFC stacks. Influences of the $H_2O/C$ (steam to carbon ratio), $O_2/C$ (oxygen to carbon ratio) and GHSV (Gas Hourly Space Velocity) on performances of stacks have been investigated. Performance of the stack operated with a diesel reformer was lower than with using hydrogen as a fuel due to lower Nernst voltage and carbon formation at anode side. The stack operated with a natural gas reformer showed similar performances as with using hydrogen. Effects of various reformer parameters such as $H_2O/C$ and $O_2/C$ were carefully investigated. It is found that $O_2/C$ is a sensitive parameter to control stack performance.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2008년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.47-50
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• 2008

The sub-zero cold is a major environmental consideration for the operational readiness of FCEVs because fuel cells produce water and utilize wet air with varying water content to generate electricity. Typical fuel cells thus have a fatal flaw in freezing conditions at startup. This drawback becomes more serious with the outsourced fuel cell that is entirely water-based for its internal humidification. In this background, the HMC's self-designed fuel cell was developed as an alternative and was employed in the Tucson-based FCEV in 2006 demonstrating its good cold-startup characteristics. The cold-startup capacity of the vehicle was validated through tests in the cold chamber and on the road, resulting in 50% stack power achieved in 250 seconds at $-15^{\circ}C$.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.75-80
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• 2004

Feasibility of the small capacity fuel cell powered vehicle is carried out for system design with loading characteristics. The major design concepts which include battery, driving motor, and fuel cell module are analyzed and discussed for the future development. A load characteristics program is developed in order to calculate the traction power of fuel cell vehicle according to the driving courses specified. Further, the small capacity fuel cell vehicle is analyzed to determine the capacity of stack as a function of the velocity for an appropriate power required.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.11-19
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• 2009

This paper introduces a conceptual design of a combined scroll expander-compressor unit for a fuel cell. Since air discharged out of the fuel cell stack has still high pressure energy, some power can be extracted from the air by directing it to pass through an expanding device. Such extracted power can be used to drive an auxiliary compressor. For this purpose, a scroll type expander coupled to a scroll type compressor was designed for a 1kW-class fuel cell. The orbiting scroll members of the expander and the compressor were made to share three of common drive shafts installed in the mid frame plate. Performance analysis for the combined expander-compressor unit showed that the installation of this unit could reduce the auxiliary power consumption in the fuel cell by about 42%.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 한국철도학회 2008년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.1984-1989
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• 2008

A powered system with fuel cell is regarded as a high current and low voltage source. Effects of the loads on the electrical power source are important to optimize the integrated power system. The design parameters of the system should be chosen by taking into account the characteristics of the fuel cell, so the costs of the power system at given operating conditions can be reduced. Furthermore, the dynamics characteristic of the system is crucial to acquire performance in applications, particularly interactions between loads and the fuel cell system. Currently, no integrated simulation has been approached to analyze interrelated effects. Therefore, the dynamic models of power conversion system with a PEM fuel cell that includes the PEM fuel cell stack, DC/DC converter and associated controls is developed. Electric lads for the system are derived by using a power theory that separates a load current into active, reactive, distortion or a mixed current component. Dependency of the DC capacitor on the loads are analyzed.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 전력전자학회 2013년도 전력전자학술대회 논문집
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• pp.182-183
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• 2013

In the design of the fuel cell charger, it is important to find out the suitable topology and to design the converter to guarantee the performance of the fuel cell as well as the battery. Most of the chargers developed so far have used step-down converters. However, since the small fuel cell stack can only generate a low voltage, it is required to use the step-up converter to charge the battery. In this paper, a modified non-isolated boost charger topology for the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is proposed to meet the strict ripple requirements for the battery charge and its control method by using PI controller is detailed. The feasibility of the proposed topology and its control method is then verified by the experiments.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• 제58권9호
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• pp.1706-1713
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• 2009

In this paper, a parallel operation algorithm for high power PEMFC generation systems is proposed. According to increasing the capacity of fuel cell systems with several fuel cell stacks, the different dynamic characteristics of each fuel cell stack effect on imbalance of load sharing and current distribution, so that a robust parallel operation algorithm is desired. Therefore, a power-sharing technique is developed and explained in order to design an optimal distributed PEMFC generation system. In addition, an optimal controller design procedure for the proposed parallel operation algorithm is introduced, along with informative simulations and experimental results.