• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.2822-2827
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• 2008

Among the main components of PEM fuel cell, the functions of GDL are to transport reactants from the channel to the catalyst and remove reaction products from the catalyst and transport heat from the catalyst to the channels in the flow filed plate. Permeability of GDL is known to make it possible to enhance the gas transport through GDL, devoting to get better performance. In this paper, three dimensional numerical simulation of the fuel cell by the permeability of GDL is presented by using a FLUENT modified to include the electrochemical behavior. Results show that as permeability is higher than $10^{-12}m^2$, gradients of temperature distribution, oxygen molar concentration and current density distribution in MEA were decreased. Although heat generation was increased as high permeability, MEA's temperature was lower than the low permeability of GDL. This seems because that convection was higher affects in mass and heat transfer process than diffusion as permeability of GDL is increases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.558-565
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• 2008

Solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC) has a higher fuel flexibility than low temperature fuel cells, such as polymer electrolyte fuel cell(PEMFC) and phosphoric acid fuel cell(PAFC). SOFCs also use CO and $CH_4$ as a fuel, because SOFCs are hot enough to allow the CH4 steam reformation(SR) reaction and water-gas shift(WGS) reaction occur within the SOFC stack itself. Diesel is a good candidate for SOFC system fuel because diesel reformate gas include a higher degree of CO and $CH_4$ concentration than other hydrocarbon(methane, butane, etc.) reformate gas. Selection of catalyst for autothermalr reforming of diesel was performed in this paper, and characteristics of reforming performance between packed-bed and microchannel catalyst are compared for SOFC system. The mesh-typed microchannel catalyst also investigated for diesel ATR operation for 1kW-class SOFC system. 1kW-class diesel microchannel ATR was continuously operated about 30 hours and its reforming efficiency was achieved nearly 55%.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.155-170
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• 2012

Fuel cells have been considered as alternative power generation system in the twenty-first century because of eco-friendly system, high power density and efficiency compare with petroleum engine system. Proton exchange membranes (PEMs) are the key components in fuel cell system. Currently, Nafion has been used in fuel cell system. However, Nafion has disadvantages such as low conductivity at high temperature and high cost. The researchers have focused to reach the high properties such as high proton conductivity, low permeability to fuel, good chemical/thermal stability, good mechanical properties and low manufacturing cost. Various methods have been developed for preparation of proton exchange membrane with high performance and commercialization of fuel cell system. The hybrid organic/inorganic membrane has the potentials to provide a unique combination of organic and inorganic properties with improved proton conductivity and mechanical property at high temperatures. So, this paper presents an overview of research trend for the composite membranes prepared by organic/inorganic system using various inorganic materials.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.244-249
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• 2004

Pd catalyst have been used in hydrogenation, oxidation, and low temperature combustion reaction. Recently, it has been candidated as a possible reagents in the partial oxidation of methanol reformers of the fuel cell. Pd catalysts, even though it is very precious and expensive, catalytic functioning is good, but it still need to be improved in the matter of durability and low catalytic activity after calcination. In this study, we synthesize the improved Pd catalyst and study their chemical functioning.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1307-1314
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• 2008

Hydrogen gas is used as a fuel for the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Trace amount of carbon monoxide present in the reformate $H_2$ gas can poison the anode of the PEMFC. Therefore, preferential oxidation (PROX) of CO is essential for reducing the concentration of CO from a hydrogen-rich reformate gas. In this study, conventional Pt/$Al_2O_3$ catalyst was prepared for the preferential oxidation of CO. The effects of catalyst preparation method, additive, and hydrogen on the performances of PROX reaction of CO were investigated. Water treatment and addition of Ce enhanced catalytic activity of the Pt/$Al_2O_3$ catalyst at low temperature below $100^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.12
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• pp.720-726
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• 2007

Current collectors of SOFC play a significant role on the performance of power generation. In this study a single cell stacked SOFC was assembled using Ag-mesh as a cathode current collector, and evaluated its performance. No gas leakages of the single cell stack occurred in the tests of gas detection and OCV measurement. The OCV and initial power of the stack were 1.09V and $0.45W/cm^2$, respectively, under the flow rates of air at 2,500 cc/min and $H_2$ at 1,000 cc/min at the test temperature of $750^{\circ}C$. A degradation rate of 44.0% was measured during the prolonged time of 307 h. The relatively low durability of the tested single cell stack was found to be the evaporation of Ag-mesh at the current corrector.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.45-48
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• 2008

This paper presents a passive air-breathing direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) which has been designed and tested. The single cell is fuelled by methanol vapor that is supplied through flow channel from a methanol reservoir at the anode, and the oxygen is supplied via natural air-breathing at the cathode. The methods for supplying the methanol vapor to the single cell were parallel channel and chamber. This research investigates various methods to identify the effects of using flow channels for providing the methanol vapor at the anode, and the opening ratio between the inlet and outlet ports for the methanol flow at the anode. The best flow channel condition for passive DMFC was a chamber, and the opening ratio was 0.8. Under these conditions, the peak power was 10.2mW/$cm^2$ at room temperature and ambient pressure. The key issues for the Passive DMFCs for using methanol vapor are that sufficient methanol needs to be supplied using a large as possible opening ratio. However, it is shown that the performance of the passive DMFC, which has a channel at the anode,is low due to the low differential pressure and insufficient methanol supply rate.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.218-221
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• 2009

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), as high-temperature fuel cells, have various advantages. In some merits of SOFCs, high temperature operation can lead to the capability for internal reforming, providing fuel flexibility. SOFCs can directly use CH4 and CO as fuels with sufficient steam feeds. However, hydrocarbons heavier than CH4, such as ethylene, ethane, and propane, induce carbon deposition on the Ni-based anodes of SOFCs. In the case of the ethylene steam reforming reaction on a Ni-based catalyst, the rate of carbon deposition is faster than among other hydrocarbons, even aromatics. In the reformates of heavy hydrocarbons (diesel, gasoline, kerosene and JP-8), the concentration of ethylene is usually higher than other low hydrocarbons such as methane, propane and butane. It is importatnt that ethylene in the reformate is removed for stlable operation of SOFCs. A new methodology, termed post-reforming was introduced for removing low hydrocarbons from the reformate gas stream. In this work, activity tests of some post-reforming catalysts, such as CGO-Ru, CGO-Ni, and CGO-Pt, are investigated. CGO-Pt catalyst is not good for removing ethylene due to low conversion of ethylene and low selectivity of ethylene dehydrogenation. The other hand, CGO-Ru and CGO-Ni catalysts show good ethylene conversion, and CGO-Ni catalyst shows the best reaction selectivity of ethylene dehydrogenation.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.711-717
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• 2016

Recently, fuel cell generation system with high energy efficiency and low CO2 emission is energetically interconnected with distribution power system. Especially, MCFC(molten carbonate fuel cell) operating at high temperature conditions is commercialized and installed as a form of large scale power generation system. However, it is reported that power system disturbances such as harmonic distortion, surge phenomenon, unbalance current, EMI(Electromagnetic Interference), EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) and so on, have caused several problems including malfunction of protection device and damage of control devices in the large scale FCGS(Fuel Cell Generation System). Under these circumstances, this paper proposes countermeasure algorithms to prevent power system disturbances based on the modelling of PSCAD/EMTDC and P-SIM software. From the simulation results, it is confirmed that proposed algorithms are useful method for the stable operation of a large scale FCGS.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.59-62
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• 2006

Formability is requested to successfully develop of a metal bipolar plate for mass production. From this point of view, wider channel and land width is more helpful to improve formability. But the performance of the fuel cell can be affected by its channel and land shape. So it is very important to select proper channel and land shape not to deteriorate the fuel cell performance. In this work, 3-dimensional, non-isothermal numerical simulation was performed to analyse the effects of channel and land width on the fuel cell performance. 3 types of straight channel were selected for the numerical simulation. The simulation results reveal that wide channel and land width lower fuel cell performance and decrease voltage at a high current density region. Water activity, temperature, oxygen concentration distributions were investigated to find the reasons of performance degradation. The results show that wide channel and land width give an bad effect on fuel cell performance because of low cool ins efficiency and lack of oxygen gas under the land.