• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.358-368
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• 2023

The fuel cell market is expected to grow rapidly. Therefore, it is necessary to scale up fuel cells for buildings, power generation, and ships. A multi-stack system can be an effective way to expand the capacity of a fuel cell. Multi-stack fuel cell systems are better than single-stack systems in terms of efficiency, reliability, durability and maintenance. In this research, we developed a residential fuel cell stack and system model that generates electricity using the fuel cell-photovoltaic hybrid system. The efficiency and hydrogen consumption of the fuel cell system were calculated according to the three proposed power distribution methods (equivalent, Daisy-chain, and optimal method). As a result, the optimal power distribution method increases the efficiency of the fuel cell system and reduces hydrogen consumption. The more frequently the multi-stack fuel cell system is exposed to lower power levels, the greater the effectiveness of the optimal power distribution method.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.11-19
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• 2012

The main function of fuel cell manifold is to render reactants distribution as uniform as possible into a fuel cell stack. The purpose of this study is to numerically investigate the effects of stack manifold design on reactants distribution within a fuel cell stack. Four manifold designs with different manifold entrance shapes (expansion or diffuser) and different values of the extra width between the cell outer channel and manifold side wall are considered and applied to the fuel cell stack consisting of 50 cells. Since the fuel cell stack geometry involves several millions of grid points for numerical calculations, a parallel computing methodology is employed to substantially reduce the computational time and overcome the memory requirement. The numerical simulations are carried out and calculated results clearly demonstrate that both the manifold entrance shape and extra width have a substantial influence on manifold performance, controlling the degree of flow separation and entrance length for fully developed flow in the manifold channel. Finally, we suggest the optimum design of fuel cell manifold based on the simulation results.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.499-504
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• 2009

The effect of gas diffusion layer (GDL) compression caused by different stack clamping pressures on fuel cell performance was experimentally studied in a miniature 5-cell proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack. Three stacks with different GDL compressions, 15%, 35% and 50%, were prepared using SGL 10BC carbon fiber felt GDL and Gore 57 series MEA. The PEMFC stack performance and the stack stability were enhanced with increasing stack clamping pressure resulting in the best performance and stability for the stack with higher GDL compressions up to 50%. The excellent performance of the stack with high GDL compression was mainly due to the reduced contact resistance between GDL and bipolar plate in the stack, while reduced gas permeability of the excessively compressed GDL in the stack hardly affected the stack performance. The high stack clamping pressure also resulted in excessive GDL compression under the rib areas of bipolar plate and large GDL intrusion into the channels of the plate, which reduced the by-pass flow in the channels and increase gas pressure drop in the stack. It seems that these phenomena in the highly compressed stack enhance the water management in the stack and lead to the high stack stability.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.21-24
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• 2008

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is an attractive candidate for residential power generator due to fast start-up and stop, high efficiency, low emission, and high power density. In this study, we employ short module stack to understand the performance of the unit cell of the stack in terms of operating temperatures. To simulate the practical fuel cell stack of residential power generator, the structure and active area of the short module stack is kept the same as that of the practical fuel cell. The results shows that the electric potential of short module stack is different from the number of cells times the potential of unit cell because of cell-to-cell variation.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 2014

A 25kW-class polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell system has been developed for the propulsion of a leisure boat. The fuel cell system was designed to satisfy various performance requirements, such as resistance to shock, stability under rolling and pitching oscillations, and durability under salinity condition, for its marine applications. Then, the major components including a 30kW-class PEM fuel cell stack, a DC-DC converter, a seawater cooling system, secondary battery packs, and balance of plants were developed for the fuel cell system. The PEM fuel cell stack employs a unique design structure called an anodic cascade-type stack design in which the anodic cells are divided into several blocks to maximize the fuel utilization without hydrogen recirculation devices. The performance evaluation results showed that the stack generated a maximum power of 31.0kW while maintaining a higher fuel utilization of 99.5% and an electrical efficiency of 56.1%. Combining the 30-kW stack with other components, the 25kW-class fuel cell system boat was fabricated for a leisure. As a result of testing, the fuel cell system reached an electrical efficiency of 48.0% at the maximum power of 25.6kW with stable operability. In the near future, two PEM fuel cell systems will be installed in a 20-m long leisure boat to supply electrical power up to 50kW for propelling the boat and for powering the auxiliary equipments.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.125.1-125.1
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• 2010

A high efficiency polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack was developed for pressurized pure hydrogen and oxygen supplying conditions. The design objective for the cell stack was to maximize the electric efficiency and to minimize exhaust-gas emissions from it simultaneously. To achieve this objective, the cell stack was designed to use pure hydrogen and oxygen as fuel and oxidant, respectively, and to be operated under high gas inlet pressures and in a stage-wise dead-end operation mode. Major components constituting the cell stack, such as membrane electrode assembly, bipolar-plate, and gasket, have been developed to meet a target durability even in severe operating conditions: high gas inlet pressures and usage of pure oxygen. A high-power fuel cell stack was assembled using these components to verify the performance. The cell stack showed a good performance in terms of the efficiency and maximum power output.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.83.1-83.1
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• 2010

A Dead-end mode operation is one of the best way to maximize the gas usage rate. But, some components of fuel cell stack like gas diffusion layer(GDL) or membrane can be damaged in dead-end mode operation. In this study, a Large Scale Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) for a dead-end operation has been developed. The stack is composed with 4 cells which has over 400cm2 of active area. Hydrogen is used as a fuel, and oxygen is used as a oxidant. The dead-end operation performance was evaluated by a long-term dead-end mode operation. The fuel cell stack is operated over 1,500 hours in dead-end mode operating fuel cell test station. And the performance change of the fuel cell stack was investigated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.50-55
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• 2010

In recent years, the development of fuel cell vehicles has further accelerated because of environmental problem and petroleum resources shortage. The fuel cell vehicles have the stack which converts fuel to electricity. The stack is usually mounted by bush to isolate the vibration of chassis and body. This paper analyzed the vibratory characteristics of stack and chassis, body system. The wheel forces of fuel cell vehicle are measured to estimate the road load data. And the paths of vibration from wheel to stack are analyzed by CAE. According to the test and CAE results, the improvement of stack vibration are evaluated.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.89.2-89.2
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• 2011

In automotive applicatons or water vehicles, the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) stack is keep moving while their operation. Especially the inclination environment can take a effect to fuel cell stack perfromance, because this condition can cause a bad effect to water exhaust of fuel cell stack. In this study, a large scale stack(over 100kW power) is inclined upto 30 degree in lengthwise and crosswise using stack lift equipment. And the stack is operated in 10~100% load. No significant change has appeared in crosswise inclined condition and lenthwise low angle. But in lenthwise large angle tilting condition, the fuel cell performance has significantly decreased. And this performance decrease is aggravated in low load. An active water exhaust device is applied to the stack to prevent the performance decrease. And in lenthwise large angle tilting condition, this device cause a good effect to fuel cell stack performance.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.1 no.4 s.4
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• pp.49-54
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• 2005

There is close relation between the heat generation in the fuel cell stack and the fuel performance. In PEM fuel cell vehicles, the stack coolant temperature is about $65^{\circ}C$, which is far lower than that for general automobile engine. Therefore, it is hard to release heat generated in the stack by using a radiator of limited size because of the reduced temperature difference between the coolant and the ambient air. In this study, indirect stack cooling system using $CO_2$ heat pump was designed and its stack cooling performance in releasing heat to the ambient was investigated. This work focuses on a series of processes that grasp the relation among the fuel cell power, the radiator capacity and the stack temperature. The purpose of this work is to find out a way to properly release sufficient amount of heat through the finite sized radiator, so that the slack power generation can not be deteriorated due to the stack temperature increase. The optimization between the compressor power consumption and the fuel cell output power can be carried out to maximize the performance of fuel cell system.