• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.683-694
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• 2008

The performance and durability of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFCs) are strongly influenced by the uniformity of current density, temperature, species distributions inside a cell In order to obtain uniform distributions in them, the optimal design of flowfield must be a key factor. In this paper, the numerical study of land/channel flowfield optimizations is performed, using a multi-dimensional, multi-phase, non-isothermal PEFC model. Numerical simulations reveal more uniform current density and HFR(High Frequency Resistance) distributions and thus better PEFC performance with narrower land/channel width where the less severe oxygen depletion effect near the land region and more uniform contact resistance variation along the in-plane direction are achieved. The present study elucidates detailed effects of land/channel width and assist in identifying optimal flow-field design strategies for the operation of PEFCs.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.260-263
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• 2005

The effects of internal manifold designs the reactant feed-stream in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFCs) is studied to figure out mass flow-distribution patterns over an entire fuel cell stack domain. Reactants flows are modeled either laminar or turbulent depending on regions and the open channels in the bipolar plates are simulated by porous media where permeability should be pre-determined for computational analysis. In this work, numerical models for reactant feed-stream in the PEFC manifolds are classified into two major flow patterns: Z-shape and U-shape. Several types of manifold geometries are analyzed to find the optimal manifold configurations. The effect of heat generation in PEFC on the flow distribution is also investigated applying a simplified heat transfer model in the stack level (i.e. multi-cell electrochemical power-generation unit). This modeling technique is well suited for many large scale problems and this scheme can be used not only to account for the manifold flow pattern but also to obtain information on the optimal design and operation of a PEMC system.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.454-459
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• 2009

In order to commercialize Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC), the cathode catalyst such as Platinum supported Carbon (Pt/C) need to have a high activity of Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR). In this study, the 20% Pt/C was synthesized using the chemical reduction method while the crystallinity of Platinum (Pt) particles were controlled under heat treatment conditions. The activity of synthesized Pt catalysts was evaluated using electrochemical measurement. Compared with the $i_{ORR}$ at 0.8 V of 20% Pt/C heat-treated at $500^{\circ}C$ and the 20% Pt/C that were not heated and commercial 20% Pt/C, the $i_{ORR}$ at 0.8 V of 20% Pt/C heattreated at $500^{\circ}C$ was 9.5 and 1.7 times higher than those of the 20% Pt/C and commercial 20% Pt/C that were not heated. It was considered that the crystallinity and particle size affect the ORR activity of the Pt/C catalysts.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.211-217
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• 2016

The fuel cell based auxiliary power unit (APU) is promising for power source of armed vehicles due to its silence and high efficiency. Especially, the on board hydrogen generation and fed to fuel cell system was core technology of this power system. In this study, we analyzed the performance of the Auto thermal reactor (ATR) that produce the hydrogen from the fuel, integrated High temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell (HT-PEFC) by Aspen plus software. The fuel was designed as a n-dodecane for analysis of military fuel (JP-8).

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.187-195
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• 2023

Data centers not only consume significant electricity to operate IT equipment, but also use a lot of electricity to cool the heat generated by IT equipment. The waste heat of a high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell (HT-PEFC) is capable of producing cooling , so it can be effectively applied to data centers that require cooling throughout the year. The energy-saving effects of the proposed combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) system using HT-PEFC. That was analyzed based on the annual energy consumption data of a specific data center. When the system was running at 100% of the year, It was shown that the installation of 1 MW of the proposed system can save 3,407 MWh of electrical energy per year. In addition, compared to the existing system, the annual power usage effectiveness can be improved from 2.0 to 1.57 and 6,293 MWh of extra heat energy per year can be produced to sell. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis was performed on the fuel cell operating temperature and current density to guide the appropriate installation capacity of the proposed system.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.96-98
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• 2006

Proper water management is vital to achieve high performance and durability of PEFC (Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell). The effects of the residual water from PEFC after purge in shut-down processes on GDL/MEAs were investigated with freeze/thaw cycles Freeze/thaw cycle tests were conducted with single cells which were designed from transparent acryl plates. Single cells which contain several amount of residual water were cycles from $80^{\circ}C$ to $-28^{\circ}C$. The resistance changes of the single cells which have various amount of residual water were evaluated by ac-impedance analysis with 24 times of freeze/thaw cycles. Also, after the freeze/thaw cycles, the property changes were characterized by visual methods such as SEM, EPMA. Though it was difficult to observe noticeable property changes in the visual characterizations, the resistance of cells dramatically increased with the amount of remained water.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.7 s.262
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• pp.588-595
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• 2007

The water transport inside a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) varied according to the anodic supply mode. The performance characteristics of a PEFC which can be affected by the water transport were observed with the anodic supply mode. In the flow-through and recirculation mode the performance showed no reduction with time because the flow in the anode was not stagnated. In the dead-end mode, without any discharged gas, the water remains inside of the anode, which caused the reduction of the performance with the lapse of time. However, even in the dead-end mode, little reduction of the performance with time was shown when only the anode was humidified externally. It means that the back-diffusion was the major factor to the accumulation of water in the anode rather than external humidification.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.328-330
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• 2009

1 kW class Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell(PEFC) co-generation systems have been developed from 2001 and evaluated for improvement of efficiency, durability and reliability of the system. This paper introduce new version system including with excellent reliability, durability and user friendly applications. Its electrical and overall efficiency showed 35 % and 80 %, respectively, and noise level of the system was less than 45 dB. In addition, this system have various functions such as load change, $N_2$ less purge, low emission and low temperature operation ($-15^{\circ}C$) through development of operation logic. This system was designed for convenient installation in indoor and outdoor due to the compactness of size and the separation of electrical and heat recovery units, which means a user can select the size of heat recovery unit.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.313-315
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• 2006

Proper water management is important to achieve high performance and durability of Polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). Among various stack components, gas diffusion layer (GDL) is considered as a core part to determine the gas and water transportation in a cell. To optimize the water management, the changes of properties as well as basic properties of GDLs were investigated before and after clamping of colls. Thickness, electric conductivity, porosity, hydroppobicity etc. were characterized by the same criteria. The amount of residual water after cell operation also was compared by direct measuring of weight. Based on the amount of residual water the endurance on the freeze condition was evaluated.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.133-142
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• 2022

This paper reviews bipolar plate materials and coatings for polymer electrolyte fuel cell. First, six roles and 10 requirements of the bipolar plate are described in detail. Secondly, type of materials for the bipolar plate and their advantages and disadvantages are mentioned. Thirdly, different metallic materials are introduced in terms of electrical and thermal conductivities, corrosion resistance, weight, strength and cost. Finally, various types of coating materials and methods were briefly reviewed.