• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.484-492
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• 2012

The TMS(Thermal Management System) heater in a fuel cell vehicle has been developed to prevent a decline of fuel cell durability and cold start durability. Main functions of the COD(Cathode Oxygen Depletion) heater are depletion of oxygen in a cathode as heat energy and consumption of electric power for rapid warming up of a fuel cell stack. This paper covers subjects including the design specification of a heater, heater controller for detection of overheat and reliability assessment including coolant pressure cycle test of a heater. To verify the design concept, burst pressure and deformation analysis of plastic housing were carried out. Also, temperature distribution analysis of heater surface and coolant inside of housing were carried out to verify the design concept. By designing the plastic housing instead of a steel housing, the 30% weight lightening and 50% cost reduction were attained. A module-based design of a TMS system including a heater or reducing the watt density of a heater is a problem to be solved in the near future work.

• 설비공학논문집
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• 제19권8호
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• pp.585-592
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• 2007

Good cold start characteristics are essential for satisfactory operation of fuel cell vehicles. In this study, the melting process has been numerically investigated for a water tank used in fuel cell vehicles. The 2-D model of the tank containing ice and plate heaters was assumed and the unsteady melting process of the ice was calculated. The enthalpy method was used for the description of the melting process, and a FVM code was used to solve the problem. The feasibility study compared with other experiment showed that the developed program was able to describe the melting process well. From the numerical analysis carried out for different wall temperatures of the pate heaters, some important design factors could be found such as local overheating and pressurization in the tank.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2009년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.412-414
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• 2009

In recent times, starting up polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells(PEMFC) in sub-zero condition is a great challenge of fuel cell electric vehicle(FCEV). The water produced in a cathode during PEMFCs operate. The water changes into the form of solid/ice in sub-zero temperatures and this makes trouble in PEMFC cells. Voltage of PEMFC drops and cold startup is failed. This paper describes an experimental study on the effect of thermal cycle to degradation of MEA in PEMFC.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.114-120
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• 2011

Fuel reforming technology for the fuel cell vehicles has been frequently applied to internal combustion engine for the reduction of engine out emissions. Since syngas which is reformed from fossil fuel has hydrogen as a major component, it has abilities to enhance the combustion characteristics with wide flammability and high speed flame propagation. In this paper, syngas was feed to a 2.0 liter SI engine with MPI to improve exhaust emissions under cold start and early state of idle condition. Syngas fraction is varied to 0%, 10%, 25%, with various ignition timings. Exhaust emission characteristics and the exhaust system temperature were measured to investigate the effects of syngas addition on cold start. Result showed that HC emission could be dramatically reduced due to the fact that syngas has $H_2$ and no HC as components. The amount of $NO_x$ emission was decreased with the increase of syngas fraction. Because the dilution effect of $N_2$ and the retard of ignition timing reduces the peak combustion temperature inside the cylinder. Exhaust gas temperature was lower than that of gasoline feeding condition. Retarded ignition timing, however, resulted in increased exhaust gas temperature approximated to gasoline condition. It is supposed that the usage of syngas in an SI engine is an effective solution to meet the future strict emission regulations.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.49-55
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• 2015

In this study, among in various scenarios of the duration degradation of the fuel cell, countermeasures for the cathode carbon carrier oxidation and the deactivation of catalyst by hydrogen / air interface formation have been studied. so the system was applied to the air cutoff valve. In terms of the component, the cold start performance, electrical stability, the airtight performance were mainly designed and their performance was confirmed. And in terms of the system, the air electrode flow is blocked off, so the oxygen concentration drops when system is powered off, As a result, By reducing unit cell voltage which affect the durability of the fuel cell reached up to 0.8V, the improved durability of the fuel cell was confirmed.

• 설비공학논문집
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• 제19권6호
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• pp.434-440
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• 2007

One of the cold start problems of a FCV is the freezing of the water in the water tank when a FCV is not in operation and the surrounding temperature drops below $0^{\circ}C$. The ice in the tank should be melted as quickly as possible for a satisfactory operation of fuel cell vehicles. In this study, the melting process for the constant heat fluxes of the plate heaters was numerically calculated in the 2-D model of the tank and plate heaters. The enthalpy method and FVM code was used for this analysis. The changes of the temperature with heat fluxes and the heat transfer area could be investigated. The energy balance error was found to increase with the heat flux. From this numerical analysis, the proper heat flux value and some important design factors relating local overheating and pressurization of the water tank could be examined.

• 대한설비공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한설비공학회 2006년도 하계학술발표대회 논문집
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• pp.74-79
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• 2006

Good cold start characteristics are essential for satisfactory operation of fuel cell vehicles. In this study, the melting process has been numerically investigated for a water tank frozen in cold weather The 2-D model of the tank containing ice and plate heaters was assumed and the unsteady melting process of the ice was calculated. The enthalpy method was used for the description of the melting process, and a FVM code was used to solve the problem. The feasibility study compared with other experiment showed that the developed program was able to describe the melting process well. From the numerical analysis carried out for different wall temperatures of the pate heaters, some important design factors could be found such as local overheating and pressurization in the tank.

• 대한기계학회논문집B
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.585-592
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• 2011

냉시동 성능 개선은 연료전지 차량의 고분자 전해질 연료전지 발전 모듈 및 시스템의 내구성과 신뢰성 향상의 측면에서 매우 중요하다. 이에 본 연구에서는 영하의 기후에서 연료전지 차량의 초기 구동 시금속 분리판 표면에 형성된 바나듐 산화물 박막의 자기 발열 특성을 이용하여 신속한 온도 상승 구현이 가능한 냉시동 향상 기술을 제안하고, 실험적 방법을 통해 그 적용 가능성을 검증하였다. 졸-겔 침지 법에 의해 제조된 바나듐 산화물 박막의 특성 평가를 위해 X 선 회절, 광전자 분광, 전자 주사 현미경을 이용한 화합물 조성 및 미세구조 분석, 4-탐침법을 이용한 $-20{\sim}80^{\circ}C$의 온도 구간에서의 온도-저항 이력 특성 분석을 각각 수행하였다. 본 실험 결과, 냉시동 조건에서 박막의 자기 발열량은 연료전지 내부의 생성 수 결빙 방지에 필요한 열 에너지를 모두 충족시킬 수 있음을 확인하였다.

• 한국태양에너지학회 논문집
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.17-22
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• 2014

The design of a fuel cells stack is important to get optimal output power. This study focuses on the evaluation of fuel cell system for unmaned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Low temperature proton exchange membrane (LTPEM) fuel cells are the most promising energy source for the robot applications because of their unique advantages such as high energy density, cold startup, and quick response during operation. In this paper, a 600 W open cathode LTPEM fuel cell was tested to evaluate the performance and to determine optimal operating conditions. The open cathode design reduces the overall size of the system to meet the requirement for robotic application. The cruise power requirement of 600 W was supported entirely by the fuel cell while the additional power requirements during takeoff was extended using a battery. A peak of power of 900 W is possible for 10 mins with a lithium polymer (LiPo) battery. The system was evaluated under various load cycles as well as start-stop cycles. The system response from no load to full load meets the robot platform requirement. The total weigh of the stack was 2 kg, while the overall system, including the fuel processing system and battery, was 4 kg.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2010년도 추계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.73.1-73.1
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• 2010

For the successful cold starting of a fuel cell engine, either internal of external heat supply must be made to overcome the formation of ice from water below the freezing point of water. In the present study, switchable vanadium oxide compounds as variable temperature-electrical resistance materials onto the surface of flat metallic bipolar plates have been prepared by a dip-coating technique via an aqueous sol-gel method. Subsequently, the chemical composition and micro-structure of the polycrystalline solid thin films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. In addition, it was carefully measured electrical resistance hysteresis loop over a temperature range from $-20^{\circ}C$ to $80^{\circ}C$ using the four-point probe method. The experimental results revealed that the thin films was mainly composed of Karelianite $V_2O_3$ which acts as negative temperature coefficient materials. Also, it was found that thermal dissipation rate of the vanadium oxide thin films partially satisfy about 50% saving of the substantial amount of energy required for ice melting at $-20^{\circ}C$. Moreover, electrical resistances of the vanadium-based materials converge on an extremely small value similar to that of pure flat metallic bipolar plates at higher temperature, i.e. $T{\geq}40^{\circ}C$. As a consequence, experimental studies proved that it is possible to apply the variable temperature-electrical resistance material based on vanadium oxides for the cold starting enhancement of a fuel cell vehicle and minimize parasitic power loss and eliminate any necessity for external equipment for heat supply in freezing conditions.