• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.397-403
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• 2015

In this study, water distribution inside a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was measured experimentally. Water distribution is non-uniform because of vigorous chemical reaction and mass transport and has been difficult to measure experimentally. Therefore, much research relied on indirect measuring methods or numerical simulations. In this study, several mini temperature-humidity sensors were installed at the channel for measuring temperature and humidity of the flowing gas throughout the channel. Only one of two electrode channels was humidified externally, and the humidity distribution on the other side was measured, enabling the observation of water transport characteristics under various conditions. Diffusion through the membrane became more vigorous as the temperature of the humidifier rose, but at high current density, electro-osmotic drag became more effective than diffusion.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.283-291
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• 2023

The physical properties were analyzed for four gas diffusion layers, and gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) for the cathode of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell were fabricated through bar coating with three binder to carbon (B/C) ratios. Among them, The GDE from JNT30-A6P showed a significant change in secondary pore volume at a B/C ratio of 0.31, which had the largest pore volume among all GDEs. In the polarization curve, JNT30-A6P GDE showed the best membrane electrode assembly (MEA) performance with a peak power density of 384 mW/cm² at a a B/C ratio of 0.31. From the distribution of relaxation time analysis, the peak 1 corresponding to mass transfer resistance of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was significantly reduced in the JNT30-A6P GDE. This is the result that when the binder content decreased, the volume of the secondary pore increased, and the mass transfer resistance of ORR decreased, which played an essential role in the MEA performance.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.225-230
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• 2006

This study investigates drying condition when a small fan is added to a operating the free-breathing proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with dry $H_2$ and Air. Polarization tests were conducted on PEMFCs at cell temperatures between 30 and $50^{\circ}C$ under dry operation. In the results, the cell performance strongly depended on the cell temperature and the cathode gas stoichiometric flow rates. The cell performance increases as cell temperature decreases from 50 to $30^{\circ}C$. In the domain where the stoichiometry of air is quite large, reduction of the concentration overpotential compensated the increased internal resistance due to drying. The maximum performance was obtained at the small air flow rate beyond which flooding occurs. This indicates that the fan should be operated in the stoichiometry domain with a well designed cell structure to avoid flooding.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.271-277
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• 2014

To overcome the limitations of the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) due to the high temperature operation, there has been increasing interest in proton conducting fuel cells (PCFCs) for reduction of the operating temperature to the intermediate temperature range. In present work, the perovskite $BaCe_{0.85-x}Zr_xY_{0.15}O_{3-\delta}$ (BCZY, x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7) were synthesized via solid state reaction (SSR) and adopted as an electrolyte materials for PCFCs. Powder characteristics were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area analysis. Single phase BCZY were obtained in all compositions, and chemical stability was improved with increasing Zr content. Anode-supported cell with $Ni-BaCe_{0.55}Z_{0.3}Y_{0.15}O_{3-\delta}$ (BCZY3) anode, BCZY3 electrolyte and BCZY3-$Ba_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}Co_{0.8}Fe_{0.2}O_{3-\delta}$ (BSCF) composite cathode was fabricated and electrochemically characterized. Open-circuit voltage (OCV) was 1.05 V, and peak power density of 370 ($mW/cm^2$) was achieved at $650^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.358-363
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• 2018

To improve the polarization property of cathodes, which is the main factor limiting the performance of protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs), $K_2NiF_4-type$ $Pr_2NiO_{4+{\delta}}$, which is expected to exhibit a triple conducting property (proton, oxygen ion, and hole conductions) was applied to PCFCs and its properties were investigated. Low-temperature microwave heat-treatment was used to achieve both sufficient interface adhesion between the electrolyte and the cathode layers and suppression of the secondary phase formation due to migration of elements such as barium and cerium. Through this fabrication method, a high performance of $0.82W{\cdot}cm^{-2}$ and low ohmic resistance of $0.06{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$ were obtained in an $Ni-BaCe_{0.55}Zr_{0.3}Y_{0.15}O_{3-{\delta}}$ | $BaCe_{0.55}Zr_{0.3}Y_{0.15}O_{3-{\delta}}$ | $Pr_2NiO_{4+{\delta}}$ single cell at $650^{\circ}C$. This result verifies that the $K_2NiF_{4+{\delta}}-type$ cathode shows good chemical compatibility which, in turn, will make it a potent candidate as a PCFC cathode.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.76-85
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• 2016

This study introduces the system layout and control strategy necessary to start and operate a fuel processor in a wide range of temperatures where a gasoline was selected as the fuel of fuel processor considering logistic support of Korea Army. The autothermal reformig(ATR) catalyst is heated to light-off temperature by combustion method in the initial stage. In order to ignite the gasoline and air mixture stably, the glow plug is installed after ATR catalyst. When the catalyst is increased to light-off temperature, the reformer is operated from initiation to steady state conditions as follows: Partial oxidation(POX) mode, partial ATR mode, full ATR mode. Finally the start-up and control strategy is validated by the operational test of gasoline fuel processor at low and room temperature. As a result the gasoline fuel processor is able to start-up within 40 min and to produce the reformate gas which has 37 ~ 42 vol.%(dry basis) of $H_2$ and 0.3 vol.% of CO.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06d
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• pp.995-1000
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• 2001

Distributions of the parameters in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been analyzed numerically under steady-state and isothermal conditions. The distributions of the crucial parameters (e.g., temperature and pressure) in a PEMFC have a major impact on its safe and efficient operation. This paper predicts the performance of the model electrode plates by calculating the pressure and temperature distributions of working fluid. The calculated results of pressure and temperature at exit condition shows good agreement to experiments and gives details of flow pattern inside of electrode plates.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2015

In this study, interfacial characteristics between SOFC and Ag paste as current collector was estimated in the high temperature environment. The Ag paste was used to connect the unit cell of SOFC strongly with interconnector and provide the electrical conductivity between them. To confirm electrical conductivity, Ag paste was treated in the furnace at $800^{\circ}C$ for 48 hours. The sheet resistance of Ag paste was measured to compare the resistance values before and after the heat treatment. Also, the four-point bending test was performed to measure the interfacial adhesion. The unit cell of SOFC and $SiO_2$ wafer were diced and then attached by Ag paste. The $SiO_2$ wafer had the center notch to initiate a crack from the tip of the notch. The modified stereomicroscope combined with the CCD camera and system for measuring the length was used to observe the fracture behavior. To compare the characteristics before heat treatment and after heat treatment, the specimen was exposed in the furnace at $800^{\circ}C$ for 48 hours and then the interfacial adhesion was evaluated. Finally, the interfacial adhesion energy quantitatively increases $1.78{\pm}0.07J/m^2$ to $4.9{\pm}0.87J/m^2$ between the cathode and Ag paste and also increase $2.9{\pm}0.47J/m^2$ to $5.12{\pm}1.01J/m^2$ between the anode and Ag paste through the high temperature. Therefore, it is expected that Ag paste as current collector was appropriate for improving the structural stability in the stacked SOFC system if the electrical conductivity was more increased.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.596-604
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• 2020

Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) attracts much attention because of its high energy efficiency among many water-electrolysis technologies. SOEC operates at temperatures above 700℃, so that the water required for water-electrolysis must be supplied in the form of steam. When the steam to be supplied to the SOEC is generated by the SOEC system itself, an enormous amount of latent heat is required to vaporize the water, so additional energy must be supplied to the SOEC system. On the other hand, if the steam can be supplied from the outside, a small amount of energy is required to raise the temperature of the low temperature steam, so that the SOEC system can be operated without additional energy supply from outside, which enables efficient water-electrolysis. In this study, we figure out the size of heat exchanger for various steam temperature and effectiveness of heat exchanger, and propose the energy efficiency of the system.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.1992-1996
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• 2007

This study focuses on the hydrogen embrittlement of iron tube for fuel line of PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell). PEMFC is operated by feed of hydrogen as a reactant and steam for proton conductivity of membrane. However, the environment with hydrogen and steam occur the hydrogen-induced degradation in BOP system. When iron tube was exposed to hydrogen and steam condition for 24 hours, the oxide layer on the surface was decreased by reduction. When the ambient temperature was 90$^{\circ}C$ micro cracks were found on the surface than any other temperature. The mechanical strength of iron tube was 3% lower than that of non-experiment tube. Maximum tensile stress was decreased 8%.