• Title/Summary/Keyword: Fuel Cells

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Optimal Electricity and Heat Production Strategies of Fuel Cell Device in a Micro-grid Energy System (마이크로 전력계통에서 연료전지 발전시스템의 전기/열의 최적운영 기법 연구)

  • Lee, Joo-Won;Park, Jong-Bae;Kim, Su-Duk;Kim, Chang-Seop
    • The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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    • v.58 no.6
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    • pp.1093-1099
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    • 2009
  • Alternative energy sources such as renewable energy like solar power systems, wind power systems, or fuel cell power systems has been the rising issue in the electrical power system. This paper discusses an economic study analysis of fuel cells in the korean electricity market. It includes the basic concept of a fuel cell and the korean electricity market. It also describes the need of renewable energy and how the fuel cell is connected with the local grid. This paper shows the impact of production and recovering thermal energy of a grid-connected fuel cell power system. The profit maximization approach has been structured including electrical power trade with the local grid and heat trade within the micro-grid. The strategies are evaluated using a local load that uses electric and thermal power which has different patterns between summer and winter periods. The solution algorithm is not newly developed one, but is solved by an application called GAMS. Results indicate the need and usefulness of a fuel cell power system.

Comparison of fabrication cost of composite bipolar plates for PEM fuel cell: compression molding and machining (PEM 연료전지용 복합재 분리판의 제작비용 비교: 압축성형과 기계식 가공)

  • Lee, Hee-Sub;Chu, Won-Shik;Kang, Yun-Cheol;Kang, Hyuk-Jin;Ahn, Sung-Hoon
    • 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2006.11a
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    • pp.105-108
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    • 2006
  • The fuel cell is one of the promising environment-friendly energy sources for the next generation. The fuel cell provides good energy efficiency above 40% without pollution or noise. Different fuel cell types are usually distinguished by the kind of electrolyte. Among these, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has advantages of high power density. low operating temperature, relatively quick start-up, and rapid response to varying loads. The bipolar plate is a major component of the PEM fuel cell stack, and it takes a large portion of stack volume, weight and cost. In this study, as alternative materials for bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells, graphite composites were fabricated by compression molding and by machining. Graphite particles mixed with epoxy resin were used as the main substance to provide electric conductivity. Flow channels were fabricated by compression molding with design of experiments (DOE) to evaluate moldability. The cost for compression molding of graphite-composite bipolar plate was compared with machining cost to make the same bipolar plate.

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Computational Analysis of Transport Phenomena in a Planar-Type Solid Oxide Fuel Cell with a Simplified Treatment of the Electrochemical Heat Generation (전기화학 반응에 의한 생성 열의 단순화된 처리 기법을 이용한 평판형 고체산화물 연료전지 내부의 이동현상에 대한 전산 해석)

  • Cha, Hoon;Sohn, Jeong-Lak;Ro, Sung-Tack
    • Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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    • v.42 no.12 s.283
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    • pp.846-853
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    • 2005
  • For the performance prediction of a planar-type solid oxide fuel cell, the computational analysis of transport phenomena with a simplified treatment of heat generation by the electrochemical reaction is conducted. From the result of the computational analysis, it is shown that the electrochemical reaction is closely related to the transport phenomena inside a solid oxide fuel cell. Transport phenomena including heat and mass transfer influences on the distribution of local current density and, as a result, on the performance characteristics of the fuel cell. Computational analysis is also extended to the parametric study to investigate the performance behavior of the fuel cell with different amount of supplied fuel flow rates. It is also demonstrated that the mathematical formulation and computational procedures proposed in this study can be applied to prove the importance of the specific TPB area in the manufacturing process of electrodes in solid oxide fuel cells.

Performance Evaluation of Free breathing Fuel Cell by using Synthetic Jet Air Blower (Synthetic Jet Air Blower를 이용한 Free Breathing 연료전지의 성능 평가)

  • Choi, Jong-Pil;Ku, Bo-Sung;Jang, Jae-Hyuk;Seo, Young-Ho;Kim, Byeong-Hee
    • Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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    • 2008.11b
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    • pp.2834-2838
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    • 2008
  • An free breathing proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was developed. This paper presents a study of the several effect on the performance of a fuel cell such as air flow rate, opening ratio, and cathode structures. Especially, an air flow rate is critical condition to improve the fuel cell performance. In this paper, we developed a synthetic jet micro air blower to supply high stoichiometric air. The synthetic jet actuation is usually generated by a traditional PZT-driven actuator, which consists of a small cylindrical cavity, orifices and PZT diaphragms. In comparison with free convection fuel cells, the forced-convection fuel cell which equipped synthetic jet micro air blower brings higher performance and stability for long term test. Also, power consumption of the synthetic jet micro air blower is under 0.3W. The results show that the maximum power density was $188mW/cm^2$ at $400mA/cm^2$. The maximum power density was higher 40% than power density of free convection fuel cell.

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Investigation of Water Droplet Behaviour on GDL Surface and in the Air Flow Channel of a PEM Fuel Cell under Flooding Conditions (플러딩 조건 하에서의 고분자전해질형 연료전지 GDL 표면과 공기극 유로 채널에서의 물방울 유동 특성 고찰)

  • kim, Hansang;Min, Kyoungdoug
    • Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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    • v.23 no.5
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    • pp.476-483
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    • 2012
  • Proper water management is crucial for the efficient operation of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Especially, for automotive applications, A novel water management that can avoid both membrane dry-out and flooding is a very important task to achieve good performance and efficiency of PEM fuel cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the liquid water behavior on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface and in the cathode flow channel of a PEM unit fuel cell under flooding conditions. For this purpose, a transparent unit fuel cell is devised and fabricated by modifying the conventional PEM fuel cell design. The results of water droplet behavior under flooding conditions are mainly presented. The water distributions in the cathode flow channels with cell operating voltage are also compared and analyzed. Through this work, it is expected that the data obtained from this fundamental study can be effectively used to establish the basic water management strategy in terms of water removal from the flow channels in a PEM fuel cell stack.

Enhancing Flow Uniformity of Gas Separator for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells by Optimizing Dimple Patterns (딤플 패턴 최적화를 통한 고체산화물 연료전지 분리판의 흐름 균일도 향상)

  • QUACH, THAI-QUYEN;LEE, DONG KEUN;AHN, KOOK YOUNG;KIM, YOUNG SANG
    • Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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    • v.32 no.5
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    • pp.331-339
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    • 2021
  • This study presents a novel way to enhance uniformity of the gas flow inside the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), which is critically important to fuel cell performance, by using dimples. A pattern of dimple, which works as a flow distributor/collector, is designed at the inlet and outlet section of a straight channel gas separator. Size of the dimples and the gap between them were changed to optimize the flow uniformity, and any change in size or gap is considered as one design. The results show that some dimple patterns significantly enhance the uniformity compared to baseline, about 4%, while the others slightly reduce it, about 1%. Besides, the dimple pattern also affects to the pressure drop in the flow channel, however the pressure drop in all cases are negligible (less than 26.4 Pa).