• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2016

This article reports current status of micro fuel cell-combined heat and power (${\mu}FC$-CHP) systems which utilize both power and heat generated by fuel cells. There are several options for constructing CHP systems and among them, fuel cells are the most useful and their total energy efficiency combining heat and power can reach up to about 90%. Fuel cells are classified as five types based on the electrolyte, but the most suitable fuel cell types for the ${\mu}FC$-CHP system are proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems have several advantages such as decrease of the transmission-distribution loss, reduced costs of electricity due to distributed power generation, and environmental-friendliness owing to zero emission. The main drawback of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems is the high initial investment, however, it keeps decreasing as the technology development reduces production costs. Currently, Japan is the most leading country of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP market, however, Korea tries to expand the market by planning the deployment of 1 million units of ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems and governmental subsidiary supporting of half of the install price. In this report, integration technologies for connecting FC and CHP, and technology trends of leading countries are presented as well.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.235-239
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• 2005

We analyzed the thermal and mechanical behaviors of micro reformer for the purpose of design verifications and modification of micro channels. The reformer designed for hydrogen generation from methanol is essential to PEM(Proton Exchange Membrane) type fuel cell. For the mobile applications, the size and the simplicity would be the most critical issues. We utilized silicon process for micro reformer to obtain the thickness thinner than 2 mm thick. We have used commercial simulation software, IDEAS, to analyze the thermal and mechanical characteristics of micro reformer structure. The heat generation rates of heaters, heat transfer rates, and fluid temperatures are derived from thermal equilibrium relation and these values were used for thermal boundary conditions. We also analyzed the thermal stresses, thermal deformations to examine the possibility of failure.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.1876-1881
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• 2007

The micro plated heat exchangers were designed to transfer more heat/volume or mass than previous heat exchangers within the context of the design constraints specified. The increase of the surface-to-volume ratio results in an increase of the interfacial area. This enhances considerably the performance of a heat exchanger. This can be an important component in a wide range of applications fuel cell, aerospace, automotive, electronic system and home heating, etc). In this study, the performance evaluation of micro plated heat exchangers under the counter flows with straight and S-shaped channel are carried out. The pressure drop as well as inlet and outlet fluid temperature were measured at steady state under various operating conditions and the total heat transfer rate were also calculated.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.369-371
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• 2008

Environmental issue is one of the key factors to industry area using fossil fuels, because it accelerates the global warming. So it is supposed to reduce greenhouse gases around the developed nations of the world at times go. This issue is especially for the power industry. Under this background, CHP system that consists of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) system, such as natural power system (wind, solar) and fuel-cell, co-generation, also known as CHP (Combined heat and power), has been developed greatly during the last 10 years. This paper adopts optimal model using GAMS to develop methods for conducting an integrated assessment of MicroGrid system.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.42-48
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• 2010

The Microsource has to supply high quality Power that has high reliability and high energy efficiency to Load according to operating type of Microgrid. The energy sources of microsource type have various dynamic characteristic and transient response corresponding to classes and application skill. This paper shows dynamic characteristic of Microgrid according to Energy Source of microsource type. This research has been carried out by detailed modelling of Microturbine system and Fuelcell system. All models are realized by EMTP/RV and simulated change of operating type and load increase within Microgrid of DC constant voltage inverter model and Microturbine, Fuelcell based Microsource.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.1992-1996
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• 2007

This study focuses on the hydrogen embrittlement of iron tube for fuel line of PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell). PEMFC is operated by feed of hydrogen as a reactant and steam for proton conductivity of membrane. However, the environment with hydrogen and steam occur the hydrogen-induced degradation in BOP system. When iron tube was exposed to hydrogen and steam condition for 24 hours, the oxide layer on the surface was decreased by reduction. When the ambient temperature was 90$^{\circ}C$ micro cracks were found on the surface than any other temperature. The mechanical strength of iron tube was 3% lower than that of non-experiment tube. Maximum tensile stress was decreased 8%.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.101-104
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• 2017

In this investigation, synchrotron X-ray imaging was used to investigate the water distribution inside newly developed gas diffusion media in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. In-situ radiography was used to reveal the relationship between the structure of the microporous layer (MPL) and the water flow in a newly developed MPL equipped with randomly arranged holes. A strong influence of these holes on the overall water transport was found. This contribution provides a brief overview to some of our recent activities on this research field.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.115-120
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• 2000

All solid-state thin film micro-batteries consisting of lithium metal anode, an amorphous LiPON electrolyte and cathode of vanadium oxide have been fabricated and characterized, which were fabricated with cell structure of $Li/LiPON/V_2O_5Pt$. The effect of various oxygen partial pressure on the electrochemical properties of vanadium oxide thin films formed by d.c. reactive sputtering deposition were investigated. The vanadium oxide thin film with deposition condition of $20\%\;O_2/Ar$ ratio showed good cycling behavior. In in-siか process, the LiPON electrolyte was deposited on the $V_2O_5$ films without breaking vacuum by r.f. magnetron sputtering at room temperature. After deposition of the amorphous LiPON, the Li metal films were grown by a thermal evaporator in a dry room. The charge-discharge cycle measurements as a function of current density and voltage variation revealed that the $Li/LiPON/V_2O_5$ thin film had excellent rechargeable properly when current density was $7{\mu}A/cm^2$. and cut-off voltage was between 3.6 and 2.7V In practical experiment, a stopwatch ran on this $Li/LiPON/V_2O_5$ thin film micro-battery. This result means that thin film micro-battery fabricated by in-siか process is a promising for power source for electronic devices.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 2024

The key components of a Phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) are an electrode catalyst, an electrolyte matrix and a gas diffusion layer (GDL). In this study, we introduced a microporous layer on the GDL of PAFC to enhance liquid electrolyte management and overall electrochemical performance of PAFC. MPL is primarily used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells to serve as an intermediate buffer layer, effectively managing water within the electrode and reducing contact resistance. In this study, electrodes were fabricated using GDLs with and without MPL to examine the influence of MPL on the performance of PAFC. Internal resistance and polarization curves of the unit cell were measured and compared to each other to assess the impact of MPL on PAFC electrode performance. As the results, the application of MPL improved power density from 170.2 to 192.1 mW/cm². MPL effectively managed electrolyte and water within the matrix and electrode, enhancing stability. Furthermore, the application of MPL reduced internal resistance in the electrode, resulting in sustained and stable performance even during long-term operation.