• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.1-12
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• 2018

The code and standards related to fuel cells were analyzed to derive the SOFC(Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) stack safety performance evaluation items and evaluation methode. Safety performance evluation of the SOFC stack was tested by quoting derived test items. The stack used in the test is an anode-supported type 2 Cell stack (Active surface area : 220cm) manufactured by MICO Inc, and SOFC stack safety performance evaluation system used for the test is self-manufactured. We conducted a leakage test, current voltage characteristic test, rated output test, and power response characteristics test. In the safety performance evaluation test, the stack showed no gas leakage, the maximum output and rated output was recorded to 65.6 W(1.41 V, 46.5 A, $422mA/cm^2$), 62.3 W(1.57 V, 40 A, $363mA/cm^2$). In the power response characteristics test verified that the output is kept stable within two seconds. At the maximum load (40 A) and the minimum load (8 A), the output was recorded 62 W and 16W in $750^{\circ}C$. This study will contribute to the universalization and to provide much safe environment of operating the solid oxide fuel cell system.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.377-383
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• 2017

This paper presents the performance characteristics of a 1 kW solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack under various internal reforming and fuel utilization conditions. The Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST) developed the 9-cell stack using a $20{\times}20cm^2$ anode supported planar cell with an active area of $324cm^2$. In this work, current-voltage characteristic test, fuel utilization test, continuous operation, and internal reforming test were carried out sequentially for 765 hours at a furnace temperature of $700^{\circ}C$. The influence of fuel utilization and internal reforming on the stack performance was analyzed. When the 1 kW stack was tested at a current of 145.8 A with a corresponding fuel utilization of 50-70% (internal reforming of 50%) and air utilization of 27%, the stack power was approximately 1.062-1.079 kW. Under continuous operation conditions, performance degradation rate was 2.16%/kh for 664 hours. The internal reforming characteristics of the stack were measured at a current of 145.8. A with a corresponding fuel utilization of 60-75%(internal reforming of 50-80%) and air utilization of 27%. As fuel utilization and internal reforming ratio increased, the stack power was decreased. The stack power change due to the internal reforming ratio difference was decreased with increasing fuel utilization.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.197-204
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• 2008

DMFC(Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) is one of promising candidates for power sources of small mobile IT devices like notebook, cell phone, and so on. Efficient operation of fuel cell system is very important for long-sustained power supply because of limited fuel tank size. It is necessary to investigate operation characteristics of fuel cell stack for optimal control of DMFC system. The generated voltage was modeled according to various operating condition; methanol concentration, stack temperature, and load current. It is inevitable for methanol solution at anode to cross over to cathode through MEA(membrane electrode assembly), which reduces the system efficiency and increases fuel consumption. In this study, optimal operation conditions are proposed by analyzing stack performance model, cross-over phenomenon, and system efficiency.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.93-99
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• 2009

In this paper, transient voltage response of Polmer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) stack is analyzed and voltage dynamic characteristic is modeled for optimal design of power conditioning system (PCS). According that the load is changed, the corresponding operating voltage of fuel cell stack is also varied with a certain deep and rising time due to the chemical and mechanical responses. This transient behavior can affect on the operation with respect of PI gain in controller, duty ratio, capacitor of capacitor and so on. So in this paper the detailed theoretical analysis of transient voltage dynamics is explained and the methodology of dynamic modeling is introduced. In addition, the validity and feasibility of the proposed dynamic model is verified by experimental results under various load conditions.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.1 no.4 s.4
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• pp.43-48
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• 2005

This study presents the integrated modeling approach to simulate the proton exchange membrane [PEM] fuel cell system for vehicle application. The fuel cell system consisting of stack and balance of plant (BOP) was simulated with MATLAB/Simulink environment to estimate the maximum system power and investigate the effect of BOP component sizing on system performance and efficiency. The PEM fuel cell stack model was established by using a semi-empirical modeling. To maximize the net efficiency of fuel cell system, multi-variable optimization code was adopted. Using this method, the optimized operating values were obtained according to various system net power levels. The fuel cell model established was co-linked to AVL CRUISE, a vehicle simulation package. Through the vehicle simulation software, the fuel economy of fuel cell powered electric vehicle for two types of driving cycles was presented and compared. It is expected that this study can be effectively employed in the basic BOP component sizing and in establishing system operation map with respect to net power level of fuel cell system.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.541-544
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• 2005

This study presents the integrated modeling approach to simulate the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system for vehicle application. The fuel cell system consisting of stack and balance of plant (BOP) was simulated with MATLAB/Simulink environment to estimate the maximum system power and investigate the effect of BOP component sizing on system performance and efficiency. The PEM fuel cell stack model was established by using a semi-empirical modeling. To maximize the net efficiency of fuel cel1 system, multi-variable optimization code was adopted. Using this method the optimized operating values were obtained according to various system net power levels. The fuel cell model established was co-linked to AVL CRUISE, a vehicle simulation package. Through the vehicle simulation software, the fuel economy of fuel cell powered electric vehicle for two types of driving cycles was presented and compared. It is expected that this study tan be effectively employed in the basic BOP component sizing and in establishing system operation map with respect to net power level of fuel cell system.

• Clean Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.243-250
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• 2001

The fuel cell has been continuously studied as environment-compatible alternative energy technology. Lately the basic techniques about stacking and widening are considered to be important for practical use. Although phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) is the most progressed one in the fuel cell technologies, few studies about temperature profile of the stack which can be the basic data for the fuel cell design have been reported yet. In this study, the temperature profile of PAFC stack was simulated. The temperature profiles of stack were obtained at various operating conditions, and when stack is operated the proper position to measure the temperature could be predicted. Also we can propose more effective cooling design. The standard deviation of the temperature profile of the proposed design was is about 50% smaller.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.4 no.1 s.9
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• pp.40-48
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• 2000

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device continuously converting the chemical energy in a fuel and an oxidant to electrical energy by going through an essentially invariant electrode-electrolyte system. Phosphoric acid fuel cell employs concentrated phosphoric acid as an electrolyte. The cell stack in the fuel cell, which is the most important part of the fuel cell system, is made up of anode where oxidation of the fuel occurs cathode where reduction of the oxidant occurs; and electrolyte, to separate the anode and cathode and to conduct the ions between them. Fuel cell performance is associated with many parameters such as operating and design parameters associated with the system configuration. In order to understand the design concepts of the phosphoric fuel cell and predict it's performance, we have here introduced the simulation of the fuel-cell stack which is core component and modeled in a 3-dimensional grid space. The concentration of reactants and products, and the temperature distributions according to the flow rates of an oxidant are computed by the help of a computational fluid dynamic code, i.e., FLUENT.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2003-2008
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• 2007

The transient power characteristics of a PEM fuel cell stack was experimentally studied using a commercial 1.2kW PEM fuel cell ($Nexa^{TM}$ Power Module, Ballard Power System Inc.). The conditions in PEM fuel cell stack such as temperature and water content change rather slowly because of their large heat capacity and long channel length, which results in long transient time to converge to a steady state. The steady characteristics of the PEM fuel cell module was determined first, followed by the measurement of its transient characteristics upon stepwise and continuous load current changes. During the stepwise current change from 5A to 25A, the output voltage initially decreased below the steady voltage and then increased gradually. Similar behavior was also observed for the stepwise current change from 25A to 5A. This transient behavior is explained with reference to the evolution of the temperature and water content of the PEM fuel cell stack.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.287-295
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• 2004

A performance simulator for the fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle (FCHEV) is developed to evaluate the potentials of hybridization for fuel cell electric vehicle. Dynamic models of FCHEV's electric powertrain components such as fuel cell stack, battery, traction motor, DC/DC converter, etc. are obtained by modular approach using MATLAB SIMULINK. In addition, a thermodynamic model of the fuel cell is introduced using bondgraph to investigate the temperature effect on the vehicle performance. It is found from the simulation results that the hybridization of fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) provides better hydrogen fuel economy especially in the city driving owing to the braking energy recuperation and relatively high efficiency operation of the fuel cell. It is also found from the thermodynamic simulation of the FCEV that the fuel economy and acceleration performance are affected by the temperature due to the relatively low efficiency and reduced output power of the fuel cell stack at low temperature.