• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2013

A steam reformer is a chemical reactor to produce high purity hydrogen from fossil fuel. In the steam reformer, since endothermic steam reforming is heated by exothermic combustion of fossil fuel, the heat transfer between two reaction zones dominates conversion of fossil fuel to hydrogen. Steam Reforming is complex chemical reaction, mass and heat transfer due to the exothermic methane/air combustion reaction and the endothermic steam reforming reaction. Typically, a steam reformer employs burner to supply appropriate heat for endothermic steam reforming reaction which reduces system efficiency. In this study, the heat of steam reforming reaction is provided by anode-off gas combustion of stationary fuel cell. This paper presents a optimization of heat transfer effect and average temperature of cross-section using two-dimensional models of a coaxial cylindrical reactor, and analysis three-dimensional models of a coaxial cylindrical steam reformer with chemical reaction. Numerical analysis needs to dominant chemical reaction that are assumed as a Steam Reforming (SR) reaction, a Water-Gas Shift (WGS) reaction, and a Direct Steam Reforming(DSR) reaction. The major parameters of analysis are temperature, fuel conversion and heat flux in the coaxial reactor.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.74-80
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• 2008

A combustion of CAI engine is purely dominated by fuel chemical reactions. In order to simulate the combustion of CAI engine, it should be considered the effect of fuel components and chemical kinetics. So it needs enormous computational power. To overcome this problem reduced problem of needing massive computational power, chemical kinetic mechanism and multi-zone method is proposed here in this paper. A reduced chemical kinetic mechanism for a gasoline surrogate was used in this study for a CAI combustion. This gasoline surrogate was modeled as a blend of iso-octane, n-heptane, and toluene. For the analysis of CAI combustion, a multi-zone method as combustion model for a CAI engine was developed and incorporated into the computational fluid dynamics code, STAR-CD, for computing efficiency. This coupled multi-zone model can calculate 3 dimensional computational fluid dynamics and multi-zoned chemical reaction simultaneously in one time step. In other words, every computational cell interacts with the adjacent cells during the chemical reaction process. It can enhance the reality of multi-zone model. A greatly time-saving and yet still relatively accurate CAI combustion simulation model based on the above mentioned two efficient methodologies, is thus proposed.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.689-697
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• 2023

The high-pressure hydrogen valve is intended to supply hydrogen charged at high pressure in the hydrogen tank to the fuel cell stack, which decompresses high-pressure hydrogen gas to low pressure and primarily limits the excessive flow. It consists of a pilot valve, a main valve, and a excessive flow valve to operate in a wide pressure range from 2 to 70 MPa of charging pressure. The opening characteristics of the valve were confirmed by computation fluid dynamics applying the moving grid technique. The behavior of the valve was predicted by predicting the force acting on the valve over time. In addition, the difference in behavior according to supply pressure was compared.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.32 no.spc3
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• pp.289-294
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• 2012

In recent years, understanding the dynamics of DC distribution system has become critically important due mainly to the increasing needs for the interconnection of DC distributed generators and the (DC-based) electric vehicle (EV) charging systems. In this paper, the characteristics of the DC grid system connected to the compact proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been studied. In particular, the voltage and current transient phenomena were measured by varying the load of the DC grid system. Also, the voltage and current ripple were measured at the different load conditions. Our experimental results clearly manifested that the study contributes to the establishment of fundamental method to characterize the small DC grid system including distributed generation.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.414-418
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• 2012

In recent years, understanding the dynamics of DC distribution system has become critically important due mainly to the increasing needs for the interconnection of DC distributed generators and the (DC-based) electric vehicle (EV) charging systems. In this paper, the characteristics of the DC grid system connected to the compact proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been studied. In particular, the voltage and current transient phenomena were measured by varying the load of the DC grid system. Also, the voltage and current ripple were measured at the different load conditions. Our experimental results clearly manifested that the study contributes to the establishment of fundamental method to characterize the small DC grid system including distributed generation.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.613-620
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• 2021

A flow channel shape of PEMFC has an influence on the internal flow uniformity. If the reactant distribution in a flow path is not uniform during operation, both catalyst deactivation and mechanical damage of membrane could occur resulting in decreasing the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) durability. Numerous studies concerning flow design have been conducted to make smooth supply and uniform distribution of reactants in fuel cells. The baffle of flow path could improve fuel cell performance through the forced convection effect. A sub-channel, as an additional air flow path, could increase the reactant concentration and reduce the mass transfer loss via a smooth water discharge. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to analyze the effect of blocks and sub-channels on the current density and oxygen concentration of the fuel cell. As a result, the limit current density and oxygen concentration at a rear block increased when using blocks and sub-channels in a flow channel. In particular, the current density increased significantly when the sub-channel was placed between two blocks. Also, the sub-channel position was optimized by analyzing the oxygen concentration, and the oxygen concentration was recovered at a rear block in the fuel cell.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.101-108
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• 2008

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are promising power generation devices which are ideal for residential and automobile applications, thanks to their fast transient characteristics. However, liquid water produced in PEM fuel cells should be properly managed to enhance the performances and durabilities of the cells. In this study, a visualization experiment was conducted to investigate the flow behavior of water droplets in cathode channels. The visualization experiment was done with four different model flow channels which were made by varying the material (Acrylic and Teflon) and the channel width (1 mm and 2 mm). Acrylic is hydrophilic (contact angle is about $80^{\circ}$) while Teflon is hydrophobic (contact angle is about $120^{\circ}$). A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was also performed to compare the observed and the simulated two-phase water/air flow characteristics in cathode channels. The computational models were made to be consistent with the geometries and surface properties of the model flow channels. Both the experimental and numerical results showed that the Teflon cathode channel with 1 mm width has the best water management performance among four model flow channels considered. A close correlation was found between the experimental visualization results and the numerical CFD simulation results.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.47-54
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• 2010

In the present study, a numerical simulation for the diffusion of hydrogen leakage of FCV(Fuel Cell Vehicle) in a tunnel was performed to aid the assessment of risk in case of leakage accident. The temporal and spatial distributions of the hydrogen concentration around FCV are predicted from the present numerical analyses. Flammable region of 4-74% and explosive region of 18-59% hydrogen by volume was identified from the present results. Factors influencing the diffusion of the hydrogen jet were examined to evaluate the effectiveness of tunnel ventilation system for relieving the accumulation of the leaked hydrogen gas. The distribution of the concentration of the leaked hydrogen for various cases can be used as a database in various applications for the hydrogen safety.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.234-239
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• 2014

To study catalytic activity and hydrogen embrittlement of Pd, Pt, Ni, and Cr in fuel cell electrode, we used density-functional theory. The calculation tools based electron density give much shorter calculation time and cheap costs. Maximum of bond overlap populations of each metal are 0.6539eV for Pd-H, 0.6711eV for Pt-H, 0.6323eV for Ni-H, 0.6152eV for Cr-H. Electron density of Cr has strongest in related metals, which shows strong localization of electron, implying anti hydrogen embrittlement behaviors.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.565-568
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• 2007

The high pressure hydrogen gas refueling system is required for fuel cell vehicle. In this paper, a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT is adopted to investigate the gas flow characteristics inside the check valve for various refueling and tank pressures. The results showed that the choking phenomena can occur for certain refueling pressures, therefore refueling processes should be divided by multiple stages. And a design method to prevent the seal departure problem which reported in CNG usages is required.