• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.217-221
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• 2010

In order to overcome the drawback of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), solid alkalime membrane fuel cells (SAMFCs) have been studied. In this report, we synthesized new sulfonated polybenzimidazole derivatives for SAMFCs. The polyimidazole derivatives were doped by KOH, and base-doped polybenzimidazoles showed high hydroxy ion conductivity and excellent mechanical properties. Especially, sPBI-co-PBI (75 : 25 for molar ratio of sulfonated and non-sulfonated moiety) showed good possibility for the anion exchange membrane. It has $2.98{\times}10^{-2}\;S/cm$ at $90^{\circ}C$ under 100% relative humidity.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.423-429
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• 2008

This work was carried out to improve the performance of anodic electrocatalysts in direct ethanol fuel cell(DEFC). PtRu and $Pt_5Ru_4M$(M= Ni, Sn, Mo and W) electrocatalysts were prepared by using a $NaBH_4$ reduction method. Alloy crystal structure and particle size of electrocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM). The XRD analysis of the electrocatalysts revealed that the face-centered cubic(fcc) peaks shifted to slightly higher diffraction angles when third metals were added. Average size of the uniform particles was observed to be approximately $3{\sim}3.5\;nm$ from the TEM image. The electrochemical measurements were carried out in the solution 1M $H_2SO_4$ and 1M $C_2H_5OH$ at room temperature. Cyclic-voltammogram results showed that $Pt_5Ru_4W$ electrocatalyst exhibited much higher current density for ethanol oxidation of $2.73\;mA/cm^2$ than PtRu electrocatalyst of $0.73\;mA/cm^2$.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2000

The growing concerns on environmental protection have been constantly demanding cleaner and more energy efficient vehicles without compromising any conveniences provided by the conventional vehicles. The recent significant advances in proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology have shown the possibility of developing such vehicles powered by fuel cells. Several prototype fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) have been already developed by several major automotive manufactures, and all of the favorable features have been demonstrated in the public roads. FCEV is essentially a zero emission vehicle and allows to overcome the range limitation of the current battery electric vehicles. Being motivated by the laboratory and field demonstrations of the fuel cell technologies, variety of fuel cell alliances between fuel cell developers, automotive manufactures, petroleum companies and government agencies have been formed to expedite the realization of commercially viable FCEV. However, there still remain major issues that need to be overcome before it can be fully accepted by consumers. This paper describes the current fuel cell vehicle development status and the staggering challenges for the successful introduction of consumer acceptable FCEVS.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.538-541
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• 2008

This study considers the feasibility of the concentration control of the feul and air by oscillating flow in the channel of Fuel Cells. Fuel Cell Stack performance is largely influenced by the fuel and air concentration. If the fuel and air concentration is lower than stoichiometry 1.25 of the fuel and 2.5 of the air, its performance deteriorates seriously because of the fuel and air starvation. In this respect the optimization of the fuel and air concentration is crucially important to maximize fuel cell stack performance. In this work, the effects of oscillating actuation are studied to control the concentration. Two important nondimensional parameters are introduced, each of which represents either the oscillating frequency or the oscillating amplitude. It is shown how these factors affect the stack performance and the efficiency of the fuel cell stack stack.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.252-272
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• 2017

Fuel cell systems have to satisfy acceptable operating reliability, sufficient lifetime and price to enter the market in competition with existing products. Fuel cells are made up of complex element technologies and various problems related to the failure of the components can affect the reliability and safety of the system. This problem can be overcome by introducing a monitoring and supervisory control system in addition to automatic control to detect the failure of the fuel cell quickly and properly diagnose the performance degradation. For the fault detection and diagnosis of polymer electrolyte fuel cells, the model based method using the theoretical superposition value and the non-model based method of checking the signal tendency or the converted signal characteristic can be applied. The methods analyzed in this paper can contribute to the development of integrated monitoring and control technology for the whole system as well as the stack.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.997-998
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• 2013

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.568-573
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• 2009

Because of environmental crisis, researchers are seeking and developing a new, clean, safe and renewable energy. Solar cell energy and fuel cell energy have inestimable development potential. The paper introduces hybrid photovoltaic-fuel cell generation systems supplying a remote power load and hybrid system of solar cell and fuel cell considering the advantages of stable and sustainable energy from the economic point of view. Fuel cell power system has been proven a viable technology to back up severe PV power fluctuations under inclement weather conditions. Fuel cell power generation, containing small land us, is able to alleviate the heavy burden for large surface requirement of PV power plants. In addition, the PV-fuel cell hybrid power system shows a very little potential for lifetime $CO_2$ emissions. In this paper shows the I-V characteristics of the solar module which are dependent on the power of the halogen lamp and the I-V characteristics of fuel cells which are connected in parallel. Also, it shows efficiency of the hybrid system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.527-535
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• 2017

Heat management is one of the most critical issues in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) installed inside the fuel cell power pack of a fuel cell battery hybrid UPS. If the heat generated by the chemical reaction in the fuel cell is not rapidly removed, the durability and performance of the fuel cell may be affected, which may shorten its lifetime. Therefore, the objective of this study is to select and propose a proper cooling method for the fuel cells used in the fuel cell power pack of a UPS. In order to find the most appropriate cooling method, the various design factors affecting the cooling performance were studied. The numerical analysis was performed by a commercial program, i.e., COMSOL Multiphysics. Firstly, the surface temperature of the 1 kW class fuel cell stack with the cooling fans placed at the top was compared with the one with the cooling fans placed at the bottom. Various rotation speeds of the cooling fan, viz. 2,500, 3,000, 3,500, and 4,000 RPM, were tested to determine the proper cooling fan speed. In addition, the influence of the inhaled air flow rate was investigated by changing the porous area of the grille, which is the entrance of the air flowing from the outside to the inside of the power pack. As a result, it was found that for the operating conditions of the 1 kW class PEMFC to be acceptable, the cooling fan was required to have a minimum rotating speed of 3500 RPM to maintain the fuel cell surface temperature within an acceptable range. The results of this study can be effectively applied to the development of thermal management technology for the fuel cells inside the fuel cell power pack of a UPS.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.17-22
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• 2014

The design of a fuel cells stack is important to get optimal output power. This study focuses on the evaluation of fuel cell system for unmaned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Low temperature proton exchange membrane (LTPEM) fuel cells are the most promising energy source for the robot applications because of their unique advantages such as high energy density, cold startup, and quick response during operation. In this paper, a 600 W open cathode LTPEM fuel cell was tested to evaluate the performance and to determine optimal operating conditions. The open cathode design reduces the overall size of the system to meet the requirement for robotic application. The cruise power requirement of 600 W was supported entirely by the fuel cell while the additional power requirements during takeoff was extended using a battery. A peak of power of 900 W is possible for 10 mins with a lithium polymer (LiPo) battery. The system was evaluated under various load cycles as well as start-stop cycles. The system response from no load to full load meets the robot platform requirement. The total weigh of the stack was 2 kg, while the overall system, including the fuel processing system and battery, was 4 kg.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.521-530
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• 2017

Improving the microstructure of NiO/YSZ is one of several approaches used to enhance the electrical and mechanical properties of an anode support in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs). The aim of the work reported in this paper was to predict the relationship between these microstructural changes and the resulting properties. To this end, modification of the anode microstructure was carried out using different sizes of Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) (PMMA) beads as a pore former. The electrical conductivity and mechanical strength of these samples were measured using four-probe DC, and three-point bend-test methods, respectively. Thermal etching followed by high resolution SEM imaging was performed for sintered samples to distinguish between the three phases (NiO, YSZ, and pores). Recently developed image analysis techniques were modified and used to calculate the porosity and the contiguity of different phases of the anode support. Image analysis results were verified by comparison with the porosity values determined from mercury porosimetry measurements. Contiguity of the three phases was then compared with data from electrical and mechanical measurements. A linear relationship was obtained between the contiguity data determined from image analysis, and the electrical and mechanical properties found experimentally. Based upon these relationships we can predict the electrical and mechanical properties of SOFC support from the SEM images.