• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.273-278
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• 2011

Employing the TRIZ problem solving technique, a hybrid-type center plate for the molten carbonate fuel cell(MCFC) was developed for the purpose of improving gas sealing and maintenance. The manufacturing method of the hybrid-type center plate was divided into a trimming operation and a two-step bending process. In the latter, a modified punch shape was used to reduce springback. Using finite element(FE) simulations, bending stresses in the thickness and the in-plane directions were computed and the bending conditions were optimized. The optimized results of the two-step bending process were used as a basis for the design of the trimming process of the hybrid-type center plate. Finally, the external manifold-type center plate and the hybrid-type center plate were fabricated using a die set that accounts for the optimized conditions. It was found that the numerical simulation results were in good agreement with the experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.77-83
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• 2006

Anodic overpotential has been investigated with gas composition changes in a $100cm^2$ class molten carbonate fuel cell. The overpotential was measured with steady state polarization, reactant gas addition (RA), inert gas step addition (ISA), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods at different anodic inlet gas compositions, i.e., $H_2:CO_2:H_2O=0.69:0.17:0.14\;atm\;and\;H_2:CO_2:H_2O=0.33:0.33:0.33\;atm$, at a fixed $H_2$ flow rate. The results demonstrate that the anodic overpotential decreases with increasing $CO_2\;and\;H_2O$ flow rates, indicating the anode reaction is a gas-phase mass-transfer control process of the reactant species, $H_2,\;CO_2,\;and\;H_2O$. It was also found that the mass-transfer resistance due to the $H_2$ species slightly increases at higher $CO_2\;and\;H_2O$ flow rates. EIS showed reduction of the lower frequency semi-circle with increasing $H_2O\;and\;CO_2$ flow rate without affecting the high frequency semi-circle.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.3120-3124
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• 2008

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is performed to investigate flow characteristics in the anode channels and manifold of the internal reforming type molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). Considering the computational difficulties associated with the size and geometric complexity of the MCFC system, the polyhedral meshes that can reduce mesh connectivity problems at the intersection of the channel and the manifold are adopted and chemical reactions inside the MCFC system are not included. Through this study, the gas flow rate uniformity of the anode channels is mainly analyzed to provide basic insights into improved design parameters for anode flow channel design. Results indicate that the uniformity in flow-rate is in the range of ${\pm}1%$ between the anode channels. Also, the mal-distributed inlet flow-rate conditions and the change in the size of the manifold depth have no significant effect on the flow-rate uniformity of the anode channels.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.419-424
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• 2010

The 125kW external reforming (ER) type molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) system for developing a commercial prototype has been operated at Boryeong thermal power plant site since the end of 2009. The system consists of 125kW stack with $10,000 cm^2$ effective area, mechanical balance of plant (MBOP) with anode recycle system, and electrical balance of plant (EBOP). The 125kW MCFC stack installed in December, 2009 has been operated from January, 2010 after 20 days pre-treatment. The stack open circuit voltage (OCV) was 214V at initial load operation, which approaches the thermodynamically theoretical voltage. The stack voltage remained stable range from 160V to 180V at the maximum generating power of 120 kW DC. The stack has been operated for 3,270 hours and operated at rated power for 1,200 hours.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.291-298
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• 1993

In order to substitute for porous nickel anode in Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell(MCFC), porous cermet elec-trode was fabricated with Ni and Ni-P coated ceramic powder. Ni and Ni-P were coated by electroless plat-ing method in the nickel solution containing of hydrazine and sodium hypophosphate as a reducing agent. The plating solution was stirred by air and mechanical agitator. Ultrasonic irradiation was applied to the plating bath to improved the effect of agitation and coating speed. Electorde was formed by pressing method and doc-tor blade method followed by sinterd at$ 800^{\circ}C$ for 6 hours in H2 environment. Anode performance test carried out by potentiodynamic polarization technique in the MCFC operating condition and 154-161mA/$\textrm{cm}^2$ as ob-tained as a anode current density at the+100mV overpotential.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.305-312
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• 2011

The use of a separator to control stack temperature in a molten carbonate fuel cell was studied by numerical simulation using a computational fluid dynamics code. The stack model assumed steady-state and constant-load operation of a co-flow stack with an external reformer at atmospheric pressure. Representing a conventional cell type, separators with two flow paths, one each for the anode and cathode gas, were simulated under conditions in which the cathode gas was composed of either air and carbon dioxide (case I) or oxygen and carbon dioxide (case II). The results showed that the average cell potential in case II was higher than that in case I due to the higher partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the cathode gas. This result indicates that the amount of heat released during the electrochemical reactions was less for case II than for case I under the same load. However, simulated results showed that the maximum stack temperature in case I was lower than that in case II due to a reduction in the total flow rate of the cathode gas. To control the stack temperature and retain a high cell potential, we proposed the use of a separator with three flow paths (case III); two flow paths for the electrodes and a path in the center of the separator for the flow of nitrogen for cooling. The simulated results for case III showed that the average cell potential was similar to that in case II, indicating that the amount of heat released in the stack was similar to that in case II, and that the maximum stack temperature was the lowest of the three cases due to the nitrogen gas flow in the center of the separator. In summary, the simulated results showed that the use of a separator with three flow paths enabled temperature control in a co-flow stack with an external reformer at atmospheric pressure.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.08a
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• pp.219-224
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• 2003

An analysis procedure for the MCFC channel flow has been developed to predict the fuel cell performance. As for the electrochemical reaction, among several chemical reaction models, one that fits the data best is adopted after a comprehensive comparative study. The Wavier-Stokes, energy, and species equations are solved to obtain the velocity, temperature and concentration fields for a specified average current density. The procedure is iterative as the local current density, or the reaction rate, is allowed to vary with the gas composition. A series of calculations are then carried out to examine the effects of gas flow rate, gas composition, gas usage rate, inlet gas temperature, and average current density on the fuel cell performance. The fuel cell characteristics, such as the temperature, current density distributions, and the concentration fields, for various operating conditions are presented and discussed.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1992.07b
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• pp.854-856
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• 1992

The molten carbonate fuel cell has conspicuous features and high potential in being used as an energy converter of various fuels to electricity and heat. However, the MCFC which use strongly corrosive molten carbonate at 650 [$^{\circ}C$] have many problems. This study has examined fabricating methods and specimen characteristics of porous anode electrode.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.831-835
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• 1996

The molten carbonate fuel cell has conspicuous features and high potential in being used as an energy converter of various fuels to electricity and heat. However, the MCFC which use strongly corrosive molten carbonate at 650[.deg. C] have many problem. Systematic investigation on corrosion behavior of Fe-based Cr has been done in ($62{\times}38$)mol % (Li+K)$CO_3$ melt at 923K by using steady state polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy method. It was found that the corrosion current of these Fe-based alloys decreased with increasing Cr content, and this was attributed to the formation of $LiCrO_2$ layer at the surface .

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.8 no.8
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• pp.685-692
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• 1998

Since a wet-seal area of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) operated at $650^{\circ}C$ is exposed to severe environment, a life-time of MCFC is influenced by the corrosion resistance of separator. In order to improve corrosion resistance of 316L stainless steel used as separator material, AI- base alloy such as NiAI has been widely used as coat¬ing material on the wet-seal area. The purpose of this work is to develope a more protective coating material by adding yttrium on NiAI alloy. An immersion test and a polarization test were performed in molten carbonate salt at $650^{\circ}C$ to estimate corrosion resistance of the NiAI alloy and the NiAl/Y alloys with up to L5at% yttrium. NiAl/Y alloys showed better corrosion resistance than NiAI alloy. We found that more than 0.7 at% yttrium was required to improve the corrosion resistance of NiAI alloy in molten carbonate salt at $650^{\circ}C$.