• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.124.1-124.1
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• 2010

The impurities in the methanol fuel that is used for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) could greatly affect the performance of membrane electrode assemblies (MEA). The most common impurities in the commercial methanol fuel are mainly ethanol, acetone, acetaldehyde, or ammonia. In this study, the effect of impurities in methanol fuel was investigated on the performance of MEA. The MEA for DMFC were prepared using a semi-automatic bar-coating machine, which can prepare the catalyst layer with uniform thickness for MEA. As a result, a single cell supplied with one of the 6 different kinds of methanol fuels showed a significant degradation of the fuel cell performance. The most common impurities in the commercial methanol fuel is mainly ethanol, acetone, acetaldehyde, or ammonia. The effects of the kind and the concentration of impurities in the methanol fuels were investigated on the performance of MEA for DMFC. We will propose the optimum compositions and limit concentration of impurities in methanol fuel for high performance of MEA for DMFC.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.656-659
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• 2009

직접메탄올형 연료전지(Direct Methanol Fuel Cell)는 휴대용으로 사용할 수 있는 소형 전원용으로 주로 개발되고 있으며, 다양한 용도로 사용이 가능하다. 하지만 직접메탄올연료전지에서 전해질로 많이 쓰이는 Nafion막은 이를 통한 메탄올 크로스오버(Crossover) 때문에 연료전지의 성능을 제한시키고 있다. 본 연구에서는 Nafion 117를 사용하여 전극 면적 100cm2 의 DFMC용 MEA를 제작하고, 공기 유량을 3ml/mim으로 고정하고, 메탄올 유량을 2,3 ml/min로 각각 공기극와 연료극에 공급하여 온도변화(50, 60, 70, $80^{\circ}C$)에 따른 성능을 확인하였다. DMFC의 적당 반응 온도는 $70^{\circ}C$로 생각되고, 유량은 메탄올 2ml/min, 공기 3ml/min유량 공급시가 성능이 높게 나오는 결과를 얻으나 일정시간 지나면 성능이 메탄올 3ml/min, 공기 3ml/min유량 공급시 보다 성능이 떨어지는 현상이 일어나기 때문에 $70^{\circ}C$ 반응온도에 메탄올 3ml/min, 공기 3ml/min의 유량 공급이 본 논문에서 최적화된 성능을 내는 조건으로 사료된다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.421-424
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• 2006

Nafion/Pt/Polypyrrole composite membranes were fabricated by chemical in-situ polymerization of pyrrole monomers with Pt precursors in Nafion matrix for DMFC. We demonstrated that positively charged pyrrolinum groups of polypyrrole particles were co-interacted with sulfonic groups of Nafion as verified by FT-IR results. Mutual interaction between $Nafion-SO_3^-$ (or negatively charged Pt precursors) and Polypyrrole$-NH_2^+$ influenced the physical properties of pristine Nafion. Thermal property proton conductivity, methanol permeability, and cell performance of pristine and modified Nafion were analyzed for an application of DMFC membrane. Thermal stabilities of sulfonic groups and side chains in Nafion/Pt/polypyrrole composite membranes were higher than those of Nafion due to mutual interaction between sulfonic groups of Nafion and pyrrolinum groups of polypyrrole. Methanol permeabilities of Nafion/Pt/Polypyrrole composite were reduced more proton conductivities with the increase in the content of Pt particles. As a result of that, the enhancement of cell performance by Nafion/Pt/Polypyrole O2 relative to Nafion was more pronounced under the specific experimental condition such as high temperature and more concentrated methanol solution.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.354-361
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• 2022

In a direct methanol fuel cell system (DMFC), one of the drawbacks is methanol crossover. Methanol from the anode passes through the membrane and enters the cathode, causing mixed potential in the cell. Only Pt-based catalysts are capable of operating as cathode for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in a harsh acidic condition of DMFC. However, it causes mixed potential due to high activity toward methanol oxidation reaction of Pt. To overcome this situation, developing Pt-based catalyst that has methanol tolerance is significant, by controlling reactant adsorption or reaction kinetics. Pt/C decorated with phosphate ion was prepared by modified polyol method as cathode catalyst in DMFC. Phosphate ions, bonded to the carbon of Pt/C, surround free Pt surface and block only methanol adsorption on Pt, not oxygen. It leads to the suppression of methanol oxidation in an oxygen atmosphere, resulting in high DMFC performance compared to pristine Pt/C.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1923-1930
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• 2004

This paper presents digital microflow controllers(DMFC), where a fluidic digital-to-analog converter(DAC) is used to achieve high-linearity, fine-level flow control for applications to precision biomedical dosing systems. The fluidic DAC, composed of binary-weighted flow resistance, controls the flow-rate based on the ratio of the flow resistance to achieve high-precision flow-rate control. The binary-weighted flow resistance has been specified by a serial or a parallel connection of an identical flow resistor to improve the linearity of the flow-rate control, thereby making the flow-resistance ratio insensitive to the size uncertainty in flow resistors due to micromachining errors. We have designed and fabricated three different types of 4-digit DMFC: Prototype S and P are composed of the serial and the parallel combinations of an identical flow resistor, while Prototype V is based on the width-varied flow resistors. In the experimental study, we perform a static test for DMFC at the forward and backward flow conditions as well as a dynamic tests at pulsating flow conditions. The fabricated DMFC shows the nonlinearity of 5.0% and the flow-rate levels of 16(2$^{N}$) for the digital control of 4(N) valves. Among the 4-digit DMFC fabricated with micromachining errors, Prototypes S and P show 27.2% and 27.6% of the flow-rate deviation measured from Prototype V, respectively; thus verifying that Prototypes S and P are less sensitive to the micromachining error than Prototype V.V.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.134-142
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• 2012

A bipolar plate is a major component of a fuel cell stack, which occupies 50~60% of the total weight and over 50% of the total cost of a typical fuel cell stack. In this study, a composite bipolar plate is designed and fabricated to develop a compact and light-weight direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) stack for a small-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) application. The composite bipolar plates for DMFCs are prepared by a compression molding method using resole type phenol resin as a binder and natural graphite and carbon black as a conductor filler and tested in terms of electrical conductivity, mechanical strength and hydrogen permeability. The flexural strength of 63 MPa and the in-plane electrical conductivities of 191 S $cm^{-1}$ are achieved under the optimum bipolar plate composition of phenol : 18%; natural graphite : 82%; carbon black : 3%, indicating that the composite bipolar plates exhibit sufficient mechanical strength, electrical conductivity and hydrogen permeability to be applied in a DMFC stack. A DMFC with the composite bipolar plate is tested and shows a similar cell performance with a conventional DMFC with graphite-based bipolar plate.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.126.1-126.1
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• 2010

In direct methanol fuel cells(DMFCs), it is well known that methanol crossover severely reduces the cell performance and the cell efficiency. There are a number of design and operating parameters that influence the methanol crossover. This indicates that a DMFC demands a high degree of optimization. For the successful design and operation of a DMFC system, a better understanding of methanol crossover phenomena is essential. The main objective of this study is to examine methanol-crossover phenomena in DMFCs. In this study, 1D DMFC model previously developed by Ko et al. is used. The simulation results were compared with methanol-crossover data that were measured by Eccarius et al. The numerical predictions agree well with the methanol crossover data and the model successfully captures key experimental trends.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.11b
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• pp.92-94
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• 2007

This article describes a thermoelectric converter, which is powered by thermoelectric (TE) power modules. This system uses TE devices that directly convert heat energy to electricity to power a converter using direct methanol fuel ceil (DMFC) system. The characteristics of the TE module were tested at different temperatures. A boost BC-DC converter was designed and controlled by a power-supply controller chip. Efficiency of about 80% can be achieved and because the thermoelectric converter system has not moving parts and has a small volume, the system can be carried about easily and conveniently to supply portable electric equipment and this is very important for some mobile equipment.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.41-46
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• 2007

Dynamic behavior of immiscible gas bubble attached to the wall in channel flow plays very important role in many engineering applications. Special attention has been paid to micro direct methanol fuel cell(${\mu}$DMFC) where surface tension becomes dominant factor with minor gravitational effect due to its reduced size. Therefore, displacement of $CO_2$ bubble generating on a cathode side in ${\mu}$DMFC can be very difficult and efficient removal of $CO_2$ bubbles will affect the overall machine performance considerably. We have focused our efforts on studying the dynamic behavior of immiscible bubble attached to the one side of the wall on 2D rectangular channel subject to external shear flow. We used Level Contour Reconstruction Method(LCRM) which is the simplified version of front tracking method to track the bubble interface motion. Effects of Reynolds number, Weber number, advancing/receding contact angle and property ratio on bubble detachment characteristic has been numerically identified.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1996.07c
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• pp.1409-1411
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• 1996

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell(DMFC) using Pt-Ru electrocatlayst and Nafion menbrane can provide high performance if operating conditions are well designed. In this study, operating temperature, pressure, and fuel flow rate were changed to obtain optimum operating conditions of DHFC single cell. Performance of DMFC were increased by the increase of operating temperature. The concentration of fuel methanol was 2.0M $CH_{3}OH$ and pressure difference of cathode and anode was 2 atm were showed maximum performance of DMFC single cell with showing the current density of 160 $mA/cm^2$ at 0.2V cell voltage.