• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2022

Cathode open-type PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) stacks, which are widely used in small transport-type PEMFC, have a problem with poor durability. Through the accelerated durability test of the 13-cell PEMFC stack, we tried to find the cause of the degradation of the stack and to contribute to the improvement of the durability of the cathode open stack. A hydrogen/air boundary is formed during start-up/shut-down (SU/SD) due to the structural problem of the cathode open stack in which the cathode is open to the atmosphere and it is difficult to maintain airtightness, thereby deteriorating the cathode. In this study, it was possible to evaluate the durability in a relatively short time by reducing the 54% of the initial performance by repeating SU/SD 1,800 times on the cathode open stack. After dismantling the stack, each cell was divided into two and the performance was analyzed. Overall, the anode outlet MEA, which facilitates air inflow, showed more severe electrode deterioration than the inlet MEA, confirming that the hydrogen/air boundary formation during SU/SD is the main cause of degradation.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.550-553
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• 2008

In this paper, experiments of air-breathing proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) for mobile devices were carried out according to the cathode conditions. These conditions are defined by the cathode flow field plate type (the channel type, the open type) and the cathode surface direction. Single cell and 6-cell stack were used in this experiments. The experimental results showed that the open type cathode flow field plate gave better performance for small size PEMFCs because the open type cathode plate allowed better air convection than the channel type cathode plate. In the experiments related to the direction of the slits on the cathode flow field plate, the horizontal slit cell was better than the vertical slit cell. With respect to the cathode surface direction, when the cathode surface is placed in the direction normal to the ground, PEMFC generated more stable power in the mass transport loss region.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.315-323
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• 2021

The air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) stacks, which is widely used in small-sized PEMFC, have a problem in that durability is weaker than that of the water-cooled type. Because the cathode is open to the atmosphere and the structural problem of the air-cooled stack, which is difficult to maintain airtightness, is highly likely to form a hydrogen/air boundary during start-up/shut-down (SU/SD). Through the accelerated durability evaluation of the 20 W air-cooled PEMFC stack, the purpose of this study was to find out the cause of the degradation of the stack and to contribute to the improvement of the durability of the air-cooled PEMFC stack. In this study, it was possible to evaluate durability in a relatively short time by reducing 20-30% of initial performance by repeating SU/SD 1,000 to 1,200 times on an air-cooled PEMFC stack. After disassembling the stack, each cell was divided into two and the performance analysis showed that the electrode degradation was more severe in the anode outlet membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which facilitates air inflow as a whole, than in the inlet MEA. It was shown that the cathode Pt was dissolved/precipitated to deteriorate the polymer ionomer inside the membrane.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.283-290
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• 2008

In this paper, experiments with an air-breathing proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) for mobile devices were carried out according to cathode conditions. These conditions are defined by the cathode flow field plate type (the channel type, the open type) and the cathode surface direction. Single-cell and 6-cell stack were used in the experiments. The experimental results showed that the open-type cathode flow field plate gave a better performance than the small channel type. In the experiments related to the direction of the slits on the cathode flow field plate, the horizontal slit cell was better than the vertical one. With respect to the cathode surface direction, when the cathode surface is placed in the direction normal to the ground, the PEMFC generated more stable power in the mass transport loss region. Since stable power in the mass transport region is closely related to the air supply, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis for air-breathing PEMFC of different cathode surface directions was performed.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.118-124
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• 2017

An air cooling, open cathode type polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has the advantages of system simplification and cost effectiveness. Open cathode PEMFC could suffer from reduced performance due to the membrane dehydration in low humidity of air. Effects of the cathode air flow rate, anode purge interval and long term storage on PEMFC performance were investigated in this work. Fan voltage is an important factor on air cooling PEMFC performance because the cathode air flow rate and stack temperature were controlled by fan voltage. The dead ended anode (DEA) method was applied to increase hydrogen usage. Periodical purge was used to discharge accumulated water and gas. The influence of long term non-operating condition on PEMFC performance degradation due to the membrane dehydration was also studied and the quick recovery method was developed.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.206-210
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• 2013

In the segmented-in-series solid-oxide fuel cells (SIS-SOFCs), fabrication techniques which use decalcomania paper have many advantages, i.e., an increased active area of the electrode; better interfacial adhesion property between the anode, electrolyte and cathode; and improved layer thickness uniformity. In this work, a cell-stack was fabricated on porous ceramic flattened tube supports using decalcomania paper, which consists of an anode, electrolyte, and a cathode. The anode layer was $40{\mu}m$ thick, and was porous. The electrolyte layers exhibited a uniform thickness of about $20{\mu}m$ with a dense structure. Interfacial adhesion was improved due to the dense structure. The cathode layers was $30{\mu}m$ thick with porous structure, good adhesion to the electrolyte. The ohmic resistance levels at 800, 750 and $700^{\circ}C$ were measured, showing values of 1.49, 1.58 and $1.65{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$, respectively. The polarization resistances at 800, 750 and $700^{\circ}C$ were measured to be 1.63, 2.61 and $4.17cm^2$, respectively. These lower resistance values originated from the excellent interfacial adhesion between the anode, electrolyte and cathode. In a two-cell-stack SOFC, open-circuit voltages(OCVs) of 1.915, 1.942 and 1.957 V and maximum power densities(MPD) of 289.9, 276.1 and $220.4mW/cm^2$ were measured at 800, 750 and $700^{\circ}C$, respectively. The proposed fabrication technique using decalcomania paper was shown to be feasible for the easy fabrication of segmented-in-series flattened tube SOFCs.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.557-560
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• 2007

The durability of 80 kW class stack module was tested in hydrogen recirculation and non-recirculation systems with the condition of 300Amps (constant current mode) and hydrogen pulse purging (10 seconds close/0.8 seconds open). A localized membrane failure in the interfacial area between membrane and sub-gasket, carbon corrosion in cathode electrode, and Pt dissolution/extraction have been found through the post mortem analysis such as CV, Impedance, SEM, and so on. The main reason of these mechanisms will be discussed in this study.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.17-22
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• 2014

The design of a fuel cells stack is important to get optimal output power. This study focuses on the evaluation of fuel cell system for unmaned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Low temperature proton exchange membrane (LTPEM) fuel cells are the most promising energy source for the robot applications because of their unique advantages such as high energy density, cold startup, and quick response during operation. In this paper, a 600 W open cathode LTPEM fuel cell was tested to evaluate the performance and to determine optimal operating conditions. The open cathode design reduces the overall size of the system to meet the requirement for robotic application. The cruise power requirement of 600 W was supported entirely by the fuel cell while the additional power requirements during takeoff was extended using a battery. A peak of power of 900 W is possible for 10 mins with a lithium polymer (LiPo) battery. The system was evaluated under various load cycles as well as start-stop cycles. The system response from no load to full load meets the robot platform requirement. The total weigh of the stack was 2 kg, while the overall system, including the fuel processing system and battery, was 4 kg.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.82.2-82.2
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• 2011

A channel design which is closely related with the mass transport overpotential is one of the most important procedures to optimize the whole fuel cell performance. In this study, three dimensional results of a numerical study for gas distribution in channels of a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) unit cell for a 1kW class stack was presented. The relationship between the fuel and air distribution in the anode and cathode channels of the unit cell and the electric performance was observed. A charge balance model in the electrodes and the electrolyte coupled with a heat transfer model and a fluid flow model in the porous electrodes and the channels was solved for the mass, momentum, energy, species and charge conservation. The electronic and ionic charge balance in the anode and cathode current feeders, the electrolyte and GDEs were solved for using Ohm's law, while Butler-Volmer charge transfer kinetics described the charge transfer current density. The material transport was described by the diffusion and convection equations and Navier-Stokes equations govern the flow in the open channel. It was assumed that heat is produced by the electrochemical reactions and joule heating due to the electrical currents.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.1358-1370
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• 2003

The effects of anode, cathode, and cooling channels for a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) on flow fields have been investigated numerically. Continuous open-faced fluid flow channels formed in the surface of the bipolar plates traverse the central area of the plate surface in a plurality of passes such as a serpentine manner. The pressure distributions and velocity profiles of the hydrogen, air and water channels on bipolar plates of the PEMFC are analyzed using a two-dimensional simulation. The conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy in the three-dimensional flow solver are modified to include electro-chemical characteristics of the fuel cell. In our three-dimensional numerical simulations, the operation of electro-chemical in Membrane Electrolyte Assembly (MEA) is assumed to be steady-state, involving multi-species. Supplied gases are consumed by chemical reaction. The distributions of oxygen and hydrogen concentration with constant humidity are calculated. The concentration of hydrogen is the highest at the center region of the active area, while the concentration of oxygen is the highest at the inlet region. The flow and thermal profiles are evaluated to determine the flow patterns of gas supplied and cooling plates for an optimal fuel cell stack design.