• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.759-764
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• 2005

In this paper, numerical analysis of hydrogen recycle system has been conducted in order to enhance the efficiency of automotive fuel cell. Generally, the excess hydrogen is provided in the automotive fuel cell. Since the non-reaction hydrogen reduces automotive fuel cell efficiency, reuse of the non-reaction hydrogen can be helpful to improve the fuel cell performance. In case of PEM FC, the water vapor is provided to hydrogen from the cathode so that the mixture experiences phase change depending on the changes of pressure and temperature. The internal flow of the mixture in the hydrogen recirculation system of fuel cell was investigated for real flow conditions. The variation of performance, properties and mass fractions of mixture, hydrogen and water-vapor were investigated. This study was performed based on 80KW level automotive fuel cell's recycling system.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.481-487
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• 2011

A fuel cell vehicle using a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEM FC) as power source produces electric power by consuming the fuel, hydrogen. The unconsumed hydrogen is recirculated and reused to gain higer stack efficiency and to maintain the humidity in the anode side of the stack. So it is needed considering fuel efficiency to recirculated hydrogen. In this study, the indirect hydrogen recirculation flow rate measurement method for fuel cell vehicle is presented. By modeling of a convergent nozzle ejector and a hydrogen recirculation blower for the hydrogen recirculation of a PEM FC, the hydrogen recirculation flow rate was calculated by means of the mass balance and heat balance at Anode In/Outlet.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3191-3196
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• 2007

The present study addresses a method to operate a fuel-cell system effectively using a recirculation ejector which recycles wasted hydrogen gas. Configuration of a recirculation ejector is changed to investigate the flow behavior through it under varying operating conditions, and how such conditions affect the fuel-cell hydrogen cycle. The numerical simulations are based on a fully implicit finite volume scheme of the axisymmetric, compressible, Reynolds-Averaged, Navier-Stokes equations for hydrogen gas, and are compared with available experimental data for validation. The results show that a hydrogen recirculation ratio is effectively controlled by a configurational alteration within the operational region in which the recirculation passage doesn't plugged by a sonic line.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.118-123
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• 2008

For the hydrogen recirculation system of the PEMFC (polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell), the ejector is useful to improve the efficiency of the fuel cell system. However, conventional ejector does not keep its entrainment ratio good when the various power duties is required by the fuel cell system. In this study, the variable multi-ejector acceptable in the whole duty range required from the fuel cell hybrid mini-bus is developed. Consequently, the performance of the developed ejector is verified by the experiments based on the real operating conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2024

Ammonia is drawing attention as carbon free fuel due to its ease of storage and transportation compared to hydrogen. This study suggests ammonia fueled solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system with electrochemical hydrogen compressor (EHC)-based recirculation. Performance of electrochemical hydrogen pump is based on the experimental data under varying hydrogen and nitrogen concentration. As a result, the suggested system shows 62.04% net electrical efficiency. The efficiency is 10.33% point higher compared to simple standalone SOFC system (51.71%), but 0.02% point lower compared to blower-based recirculation system (62.06%). Further improvement in the EHC-based SOFC recirculation system can be achieved with EHC performance improvement.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.446-454
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• 2008

The purpose of this paper is to analyze two-phase flows of the hydrogen recirculation system. Two-phase flow modeling is one of the great challenges in the classical sciences. As with most problems in engineering, the interest in two-phase flow is due to its extreme importance in various industrial applications. In hydrogen recirculation systems of fuel cell, the changes in pressure and temperature affect the phase change of mixture. Therefore, two-phase flow analysis of the hydrogen recirculation system is very important. Two-phase computation fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations, using a commercial CFD package FLUENT 6.2, were employed to calculate the gas-liquid flow. A two-phase flow calculation was conducted to solve continuity, momentum, energy equation for each phase. Then, the mass transfer between water vapor and liquid water was calculated. Through an experiment to measure production of liquid water with change of pressure, the analysis model was verified. The predictions of rate of condensed liquid water with change of pressure were within an average error of about 5%. A comparison of experimental and computed data was found to be in good agreement. The variations of performance, properties, mass fraction and two-phase flow characteristic of mixture with resepct to the fuel cell power were investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.193-197
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• 2010

In terms of the system efficiency, it is very useful to apply the ejector into the fuel recirculation system of a fuel cell system since the ejector needs no parasitic power to operate. Since the conventional automotive fuel cell use hydrogen and air as their fuel, the only hydrogen is needed to be recirculated for the better fuel efficiency. On the other hand, the submarine fuel cell needs both hydrogen and oxygen recirculation systems because the submarine drives under the sea. In particular, the cathodic recirculation has to meet the tougher target since the oxygen based pressurized stack generally used in the submarine applications generates the significant amount of the water in the stack during the operation. Namely, the oxygen utilization has designed less than 50% in the whole operating range for the better exhausting of the generated waters. And thereby in terms of the oxygen utilization, the entrainment ratio of the ejector should be more than 1 within the whole operating range. However, the conventional ejector using a constant nozzle can not afford to satisfy the mentioned critical requirement. To overcome the problem, the dual-ejector and its control strategy are designed. The performance of the proposed dual-ejector is verified by the experiments based on the real operating conditions of the target submarine system. Furthermore, the proposed design method can be used for the other fuel recirculation system of a large-scale fuel cell system with the critical requirement of the fuel utilization.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.156-160
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• 2007

Ejector system is a device to transport a low-pressure secondary flow by using a high-pressure primary flow. Ejector system is, in general, composed of a primary nozzle, a mixing section, a casing part for suction of secondary flow and a diffuser. It can induce the secondary flow or affect the secondary chamber pressure by both shear stress and pressure drop which are generated in the primary jet boundary. Ejector system is simple in construction and has no moving parts, so it can not only compress and transport a massive capacity of fluid without trouble, but also has little need for maintenance. Ejectors are widely used in a range of applications such as a turbine-based combined-cycle propulsion system and a high altitude test facility for rocket engine, pressure recovery system, desalination plant and ejector ramjet etc. The primary interest of this study is to set up an applicable model and operating conditions for an ejector in the condition of sonic and subsonic, which can be extended to the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Experimental and theoretical investigation on the sonic and subsonic ejectors with a converging-diverging diffuser was carried out. Optimization technique and numerical simulation was adopted for an optimal geometry design and satisfying the required performance at design point of ejector for hydrogen recirculation. Also, some sonic and subsonic ejectors with the function of changing nozzle position were manufactured precisely and tested for the comparison with the calculation results.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.256-259
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• 2008

Ejector system is a device to transport a low-pressure secondary flow by using a high-pressure primary flow. Ejector system is, in general, composed of a primary nozzle, a mixing section, a casing part for suction of secondary flow and a diffuser. It can induce the secondary flow or affect the secondary chamber pressure by both shear stress and pressure drop which are generated in the primary jet boundary. Ejector system is simple in construction and has no moving parts, so it can not only compress and transport a massive capacity of fluid without trouble, but also has little need for maintenance. Ejectors are widely used in a range of applications such as a turbine-based combined-cycle propulsion system and a high altitude test facility for rocket engine, pressure recovery system, desalination plant and ejector ramjet etc. The primary interest of this study is to set up an applicable model and operating conditions for an ejector in the condition of sonic and subsonic, which can be extended to the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Experimental and theoretical investigation on the sonic and subsonic ejectors with a converging-diverging diffuser was carried out. Optimization technique and numerical simulation was adopted for an optimal geometry design and satisfying the required performance at design point of ejector for hydrogen recirculation. Also, some ejectors with a various of nozzle throat and mixing chamber diameter were manufactured precisely and tested for the comparison with the calculation results.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.303-311
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• 2019

Reversible solid oxide fuel cell (RSOFC) has become a prospective device for energy storage and hydrogen production. Many studies have been conducted around the world focusing on system efficiency improvement and realization. The system should have not only high efficiency but also a certain level of simplicity for stable operation. External waste steam utilization was proved to remarkably increase the efficiency at solid oxide electrolysis system. In this study, RSOFC system coupled with waste steam was proposed and optimized in term of simplicity and efficiency. Ejector for fuel recirculation is selected due to its simple design and high stability. Three system configurations using ejector for fuel recirculation were investigated for performance of design condition. In parametric study, the system efficiencies at different current density were analyzed. The system configurations were simulated using validated lumped model in EBSILON(R) program. The system components, balance of plants, were designed to work in both electrolysis and fuel cell modes, and their off-design characteristics were taken into account. The base case calculation shows that, the system with suction pump results in slightly lower efficiency but stack can be operated more stable with same inlet pressure of fuel and air electrode.