• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.491-496
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• 2017

The hydrogen($H_2$) is promising energy carrier of renewable energy in the microgrid system such as small village and military base due to its high energy density, pure emission and convenient transportation. $H_2$ can be generated by photocatalytic water splitting, gasification of biomass and water electrolysis driven by solar cell or wind turbine. Solid oxide electrolysis cells(SOECs) are the most efficient way to mass production due to high operating temperature improving the electrode kinetics and reducing the electrolyte resistance. The SOECs are consist of nickel-yttria stabilized zirconia(NiO-YSZ) fuel electrode / YSZ electrolyte / lanthanum strontium manganite-YSZ(LSM-YSZ) air electrode due to similarity to Solid Oxide Fuel Cells(SOFCs). The Ni-YSZ most widely used fuel electrode shows several problems at SOEC mode such as degradation of the fuel electrode because of Ni particle's redox reaction and agglomeration. Therefore Ni-YSZ need to be replaced to an alternative fuel electrode material. In this study, We studied on the Double perovskite $PrBrMnO_{5+{\delta}}$(PBMO) due to its high electric conductivity, catalytic activity and electrochemical stability. PBMO was impregnated into the scaffold electrolyte $La_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}Ga_{0.85}Mg_{0.15}O_{3-{\delta}}$(LSGM) to be synthesized at low temperature for avoiding secondary phase generated when it exposed to high temperature. The Half cell test was conducted at SOECs and SOFCs modes.

• Carbon letters
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2007

Carbon nanofiber (CNF) grown catalytically was chemically activated with KOH to attain structural change of CNF. The structural changes of CNF through KOH activation were investigated by using BET and SEM. From the results of BET, it was found that KOH activation was effective to develop particular sizes of pores on the CNF surface, increasing the surface area of CNF. Activated CNF was applied as an anode catalyst support of fuel cell. The effects of different activation conditions including the activation temperature and the activation time on the specific surface area of the CNF activated with KOH were investigated to obtain appropriate structure as a catalyst support. The 60 wt% Pt-Ru catalyst prepared was observed by using TEM and XRD.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.2256-2261
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• 2015

In the power plant using high temperature fuel cells such as Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell(MCFC), and Solid Oxide Fuel Cell(SOFC), the generated electric power per area of power generation facilities is much higher than any other renewable energy sources. - High temperature fuel cell systems are capable of operating at MW rated power output. - It also has a feature that is short for length of the line for connecting the interior of the generation facilities. In normal condition, these points are advantages for voltage drops or power losses. However, in abnormal condition such as fault occurrence in electrical system, the fault currents are increased, because of the small impedance of the short length of power cable. Commonly, to minimize the thermal-mechanical stresses on the stack and increase the systems reliability, we divided the power plant configuration to several banks for parallel operation. However, when a fault occurs in the parallel operation system of power main transformer, the fault currents might exceed the interruption capacity of protective devices. In fact, although the internal voltage level of the fuel cell power plant is the voltage level of distribution systems, we should install the circuit breakers for transmission systems due to fault current. To resolve these problems, the SFCL has been studied as one of the noticeable devices. Therefore, we analyzed the effect of application of the SFCL on bus tie in a fuel cell power plants system using PSCAD/EMTDC.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1092-1100
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• 2010

Bacteria, fungi, and protozoa inhabiting the rumen, the largest chamber of the ruminants' stomach, release large quantities of hydrogen during the fermentation of carbohydrates. The hydrogen is used by coexisting methanogens to produce methane in energy-yielding processes. This work shows, for the first time, a fundamental possibility of using a hydrogen-rich fermentation gas produced by selected rumen ciliates to feed a low-temperature hydrogen fuel cell. A biohydrogen fuel cell (BHFC) was constructed consisting of (i) a bioreactor, in which a hydrogen-rich gas was produced from glucose by rumen ciliates, mainly of the Isotrichidae family, deprived of intra- and extracellular bacteria, methanogens, and fungi; and (ii) a chemical fuel cell of the polymer-electrolyte type (PEFC). The fuel cell was used as a tester of the technical applicability of the fermentation gas produced by the rumen ciliates for power generation. The average estimated hydrogen yield was ca. 1.15 mol $H_2$ per mole of fermented glucose. The BHFC performance was equal to the performance of the PEFC running on pure hydrogen. No fuel cell poisoning effects were detected. A maximum power density of $1.66\;kW/m^2$ (PEFC geometric area) was obtained at room temperature. The maximum volumetric power density was $128\;W/m^3$ but the coulombic efficiency was only ca. 3.8%. The configuration of the bioreactor limited the continuous operation time of this BHFC to ca. 14 h.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.39-46
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• 2006

The fuel cell is one of promising environment-friendly energy sources for the next generation. The bipolar plate is a major component of the PEM fuel cell stack, which takes a large portion of stack cost. In this study, as alternative materials for bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells, graphite composites were fabricated by compression molding. Graphite particles mixed with epoxy resin were used as the main substance to provide electric conductivity To achieve desired electrical properties, specimens made with different mixing ratio, processing pressure and temperature were tested. To increase mechanical strength, one or two layers of woven carbon fabric were added to the graphite and resin composite. Thus, the composite material was consisted of three phases: graphite particles, carbon fabric, and epoxy resin. By increasing mixing ratio of graphite, fabricated pressure and process temperature, the electric conductivity of the composite was improved. The results of tensile test showed that the tensile strength of the two-phase graphite composite was about 4MPa, and that of three-phase composite was increased to 57MPa. As surface properties, contact an91e and surface roughness were tested. Graphite composites showed contact angles higher than $90^{\circ}$, which mean low surface energy. The average surface roughness of the composite specimens was $0.96{\mu}m$.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.229-235
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• 2003

A 50W class MCFC stack was operated in order to test a new design of the circular shaped separator. in the new design, the anode gas was supplied into the stack and was exhausted out of the stack after the anode reaction. The exhausted gas was reacted with the cathode gas supplied with excess oxygen in the vessel in which the stack was placed. Then the reacted gas flowed into the cathode side of the stack and was exhausted through the outlet located in the center of the stack. The average voltage of the single cells in the stack was 0.835V under the current density of $150mA/cm^2$, initially, and the degradation rate of the stack voltage was 1.7%/1,000h. High stack voltage with good stability of the present stack was due to the small temperature gradient in the stack. The small temperature gradient as well as the easiness of temperature control was the result of the new configuration of the separator which utilized the heat of the combustion reaction between anode outlet gas and the cathode inlet gas for heating the stack.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.323-329
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• 2012

A thermal management system of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell is taken charge of controlling the temperature of fuel cell stack by rejection of electrochemically reacted heat. Two major components of thermal management system are heat exchanger and pump which determines required amount of heat. Since the performance and durability of PEMFC system is sensitive to the operating temperature and temperature distribution inside the stack, it is necessary to control the thermal management system properly under guidance of operating strategy. The control study of the thermal management system is able to be boosted up with hardware in the loop simulation which directly connects the plant simulation with real hardware components. In this study, the plant simulation of fuel cell stack has been developed and the simulation model is connected with virtual data acquisition system. And HIL simulator has been developed to control the coolant supply system for the study of PEMFC thermal management system. The virtual data acquisition system and the HIL simulator are developed under LabVIEWTM Platform and the Simulation interface toolkit integrates the fuel cell plant simulator with the virtual DAQ display and HIL simulator.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1156-1163
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• 2020

Fuel temperature coefficient (FTC) of PuO₂+ZrO₂ (ROX) fueled LWR cell is analyzed neutronically with reactor- and weapons-grade plutonium fuels in comparison with a U-free PuO₂+ThO₂ (TOX), and a conventional MOX fuel cells. The FTC value of a ROX fueled LWR is smaller compared to a TOX or a MOX fueled LWRs and becomes extremely positive especially, at EOL. This is because when fuel temperature is increased, thermal neutron spectrum is shifted to harder, which is extreme at EOL in ROX fuel than that in TOX and MOX fuels. Consequently at EOL, ²³⁹Pu and ²⁴¹Pu contributes to positive fuel temperature reactivity (FTR) in ROX fuel, while they have negative contribution in TOX and MOX fuels. The FTC problem of ROX fuel is mitigated by additive ThO₂, UO₂ or Er₂O₃. In ROX-additive fuel, the atomic density of fissile Pu becomes more than additive free ROX fuel especially at EOL, which is the main cause to improve the FTC problem. The density of fissile Pu is more effective to decrease the thermal spectrum shifts with increase the fuel temperature than additive ThO₂, UO₂ or Er₂O₃ in ROX fuel.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.422-431
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• 2007

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) is very interesting power source due to high power density, simple construction and operation at low temperature. But it has problems such as high cost, improvement of performance and effect of temperature. These problems can be approached to be solved by using mathematical models which are useful tools for analysis and optimization of fuel cell performance and for heat and water management. In this paper, the present work is to develop an electrochemical model to examine the electrochemical process inside PEM fuel cell. A complete set of considerations of mass, momentum, species and charge is developed and solved numerically with proper account of electrochemical kinetics. When depth of gas channel becomes thinner, diffusion of reactant makes well into gas diffusion layer(GDL) and the performance increases. Although at low current region there is little voltage difference between experimental data of PEM fuel cell and numerical data. When the porosity size of gas diffusion layer for PEM fuel cell is bigger, oxygen diffusion occurs well and oxygen mass fraction appears high in catalyst layer.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.8-18
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• 2012

This paper presents a three-dimensional, transient cold-start polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) model to numerically evaluate the effects of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) design and cell location in a PEFC stack on PEFC cold start behaviors. The cold-start simulations show that the end cell experiences significant heat loss to the sub-freezing ambient and thus finally cold-start failure due to considerable ice filling in the cathode catalyst layer. On the other hand, the middle cells in the stack successfully start from $-30^{\circ}C$ sub-freezing temperature due to rapid cell temperature rise owing to the efficient use of waste heat generated during the cold-start. In addition, the simulation results clearly indicate that the cathode catalyst layer (CL) composition and thickness have an substantial influence on PEFC cold-start behaviors while membrane thickness has limited effect mainly due to inefficient water absorption and transport capability at subzero temperatures.