• 한국유체기계학회 논문집
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• 제9권6호
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• pp.45-53
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• 2006

Turbo-blower as an air supply system is one of the most important BOP (Balance of Plant) systems for FCV(Fuel Cell Vehicle). For generating and blowing compressed air, the motor of air blower consumes maximum 25% of net power, and fuel cell demands a clean air. In this study, turbo-blower supported by air foil bearings is introduced as the air supply system used by 80kW proton exchange membrane fuel systems. The turbo-blower is a turbo machine which operates at high speed, so air foil bearings suit their purpose as bearing elements. Analysis for confirming the stability and endurance is conducted. The rotordynamic stability was predicted using the numerical analysis of air foil bearings and it is verified through experimental works. In spite of various transient dynamic situation, the turbo-blower had stable performances. After the performance test, results are presented. The normal power of driving motor has about 1.6 kW with the 30,000 rpm operating range and the flow rate of air has maximum 160 SCFM. The test results show that the aerodymic performance and stability of turbo-blower are satisfied to the primary goals.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.136-147
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• 2015

Dead-ended operation of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell(PEMFC) provides the simplification of fuel cell systems to reduce fuel consumption and weight of fuel cell. However, the water accumulation within the channel prohibits a uniform supply of fuel. Optimization of the purge strategy is required to increase the fuel cell efficiency since fuel and water are removed during the purge process. In this study, we investigated the average voltage output which depends on two interrelated conditions, namely, the supply gas pressure, purging valve open time. In addition, flow visualization was performed to better understand the water build-up on the anode side and cathode side of PEMFC in terms of a variety of the current density. We analyzed the correlation between the purge condition and water flooding.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.1018-1026
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• 2005

The proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system consisting of stack and balance of plant (BOP) was modeled in a MATLAB/Simulink environment. High-pressure operating (compressor type) and low-pressure operating (air blower type) fuel cell systems were con­sidered. The effects of two main operating parameters (humidity and the pressure of the supplied gas) on the power distribution characteristics of BOP and the net system efficiency of the two systems mentioned above were compared and discussed. The simulation determines an optimum condition regarding parameters such as the cathode air pressure and the relative humidity for maximum net system efficiency for the operating fuel cell systems. This study contributes to get a basic insight into the fuel cell stack and BOP component sizing. Further research using muli­object variable optimization packages and the approach developed by this study can effectively contribute to an operating strategy for the practical use of fuel cell systems for vehicles.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제28권7호
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• pp.877-884
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• 2004

In this paper, structural analysis is performed to investigate the deformation of porous media in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Structural deformation of air plate of the fuel cell causes the change in configuration and cross sectional area of the channel. The distributions of mass flow rate and pressure are major factors to decide the performance of a PEMFC. These factors are affected by channel configuration of air plate. Two kinds of numerical air plate models are suggested for flow analyses. Deformed porous media and undeformed porous media are considered for the two models. The Numerical flow analysis results between deformed porous media and undeformed porous media have some discrepancy in pressure distribution. The pressure and velocity distribution under a working condition are numerically calculated to predict the performance of the air plates. Pressure and velocity distributions are compared for two models. It is shown that structural deformation makes difference in flow analysis results.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국태양에너지학회 2012년도 춘계학술발표대회 논문집
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• pp.414-418
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• 2012

In recent years, understanding the dynamics of DC distribution system has become critically important due mainly to the increasing needs for the interconnection of DC distributed generators and the (DC-based) electric vehicle (EV) charging systems. In this paper, the characteristics of the DC grid system connected to the compact proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been studied. In particular, the voltage and current transient phenomena were measured by varying the load of the DC grid system. Also, the voltage and current ripple were measured at the different load conditions. Our experimental results clearly manifested that the study contributes to the establishment of fundamental method to characterize the small DC grid system including distributed generation.

• 대한전기학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한전기학회 2008년도 추계학술대회 논문집 전기기기 및 에너지변환시스템부문
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• pp.191-193
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• 2008

A fuel cell power system among various alternative power sources has many advantages such as low-polluted, high-efficient, and heat-recyclable, thus it is now able to be up to hundreds MWh-scaled through improving feasibility and longevity of it. During the last few years of the twentieth century, much changed to stimulate new and expanding interest in fuel cell technology. This paper presents optimal design and operational features of stand-alone 500W PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) system which can be a substitute instead fossil fuel. The stack of PEMFC is composed of 35 laminated graphite, and a unit cell of the stack has electrical characteristics as below; 14W, 0.9V, 15A. The other components of BOP(Balance of Plant) are composed of hydrogen and nitrogen tanks, regulators, 3way 5solenoid valves, mass flow meters, etc.

• 전력전자학회논문지
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.37-44
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• 2013

In this paper, the characteristics of portable fuel cell system are introduced and the dynamic response of output voltage of fuel cell stack with internal humidifier is analyzed. When the output of the fuel cell (FC) stack is short-circuited for humidification, the output voltage of the FC stack rapidly drops. In order to maintain the load voltage in the required range, dynamic compensation methods are proposed: 1) installing a capacitor behind the output of the FC stack; 2) utilizing the bi-directional converter. Especially, bi-directional converter is used when short of the FC output is detected or predicted by algorithm using data which is measured during previous three cycles. These methods are simulated by PSIM 9.0, then experimental results from the fuel cell system prototype verify the validity of the proposed methods.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.119-126
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• 2007

Because of the low temperature operation, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell has a water phase transition. Therefore, water management is an important operation issue in a PEM fuel cell because the liquid water in the fuel cell causes electrode flooding that can lower the cell performance under high current density conditions. In this study, in order to understand the reactant distributions in the cathode channels of the PEM fuel cell, an experimental technique that can measure the species concentrations of reactant gases by using gas chromatograph (GC) is applied for an operating PEM fuel cell. The oxygen distribution along the cathode flow channels of PEM fuel cell is mainly investigated with various operating conditions. Also, the relations between cathode flooding and oxygen concentrations and oxygen consumption pattern along the cathode channel configurations of the unit cell adopted for this study are discussed using GC measurement and visualization experiment of cathode flooding. It is found that the amount of oxygen consumption is very sensitive to various operating conditions of the fuel cell and was much affected by the flooding occurrence in cathode channels.

• 신재생에너지
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• 제1권4호
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• pp.43-48
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• 2005

This study presents the integrated modeling approach to simulate the proton exchange membrane [PEM] fuel cell system for vehicle application. The fuel cell system consisting of stack and balance of plant (BOP) was simulated with MATLAB/Simulink environment to estimate the maximum system power and investigate the effect of BOP component sizing on system performance and efficiency. The PEM fuel cell stack model was established by using a semi-empirical modeling. To maximize the net efficiency of fuel cell system, multi-variable optimization code was adopted. Using this method, the optimized operating values were obtained according to various system net power levels. The fuel cell model established was co-linked to AVL CRUISE, a vehicle simulation package. Through the vehicle simulation software, the fuel economy of fuel cell powered electric vehicle for two types of driving cycles was presented and compared. It is expected that this study can be effectively employed in the basic BOP component sizing and in establishing system operation map with respect to net power level of fuel cell system.

• 신재생에너지
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• 제3권2호
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• pp.24-30
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• 2007

The transient response of PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) is important criteria in the application of PEM fuel cell to real automotive system. In this work, using a transparent unit PEM fuel cell, the transient response and cathode flooding during load change are investigated. The cell voltage is acquired according to the current density change($0.3Acm^2$ to $0.6A/cm^2$) under various stoichiometry conditions and different flooding intensities, Also the cathode gas channel images are obtained by CCD imaging system simultaneously. The different level of undershoots appeared at the moment of load changes under different cathode stoichiometries and flooding intensities. It takes about 1s that the product water comes up onto the flow channel so that oxygen supply is temporarily blocked which causes voltage loss in that "undershoot". The correlation of the dynamic behavior with stoichiometry and cathode flooding is induced from the results of these experiments.