• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.11a
• /
• pp.443-446
• /
• 2006

Carbon-supported Platinum (Pt) is the potential electro-catalyst material for anodic and cathodic reactions in fuel cell. Catalytic activity of the metal strongly depends on the particle shape, size and distribution of the metal in the porous supportive network. Conventional preparation techniques based on wet impregnation and chemical reduction of the metal precursors often do not provide adequate control of particle size and shape. We have proposed a novel route for preparing nano sized Pt colloidal particles in solution by oxidation of ethylene glycol. These Pt nano particles were deposited on large surface area carbon support. The process of nano Pt colloid formation involves the oxidation of solvent ethylene glycol to mainly glycolic acid and the presence of its anion glycolate depends on the solution pH. In the process of colloidal Pt formation glycolate actsas stabilizer for the Pt colloidal particle and prevents the agglomeration of colloidal Pt particles. These mono disperse Pt particles in carbon support are found uniformly distributed in nearly spherical shape and the size distribution was narrow for both supported and unsupported metals. The average diameter of the Pt nano particle was controlled in the range off to 3 nm by optimizing reaction parameters. Transmission electron microscopy, CV and RRDE experiments were used to compliment the results.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.35 no.7
• /
• pp.881-890
• /
• 2011

Analyses of performance and behavior of the individual PEM fuel cells (PEMFC) under different operating conditions are of importance optimally to design and efficiently to operate the stack. The paper focuses on experimental analyses of a two-cell stack under different operating conditions, which performance and behavior are measured by the voltage of a cell as well as the stack. Experimental parameters include stoichiometric ratio, temperature of the air supplied under different working stack temperatures and loads. Results showed that the cell voltages are dominantly influenced by the temperature of the air supplied among others. In addition, an inherent difference between the first and the second cell voltage exists because of the tolerances of the cell components and the resulting different over-potentials at different equilibrium states. Furthermore, it is shown that the proton conductivity in the membranes conditioned by the humidity in the cathode channel highly affects the voltage differences of the two cells.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.405-418
• /
• 2014

Fuel cells are suitable for a power plant of a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as it is not only environmentally friendly and quiet but also more efficient than an internal combustion engine. A fuel cell hybrid UAV has better performance in endurance than a fuel cell only or battery only UAV. One of the key purposes of making fuel cell hybrid UAVs is having long endurance and now maximum 26 hours of flight is possible. Because optimal design and control methods for fuel cell hybrid UAVs are absolutely needed for their long endurance we have to check the methods. The aircraft made by using application-integrated design method has less BOP mass and better performances. The optimal design and control methods are generally based on computer simulations or Hardware-In-The-Loop simulations by using dynamic models for their design and control. The Hardware-In-The-Loop simulation (HILS) is to use a hardware device like a fuel cell stack as well as a simulation program and it allows for making optimally designed applications. This paper introduce efficient methods of design, control and evaluation for the fuel cell hybrid UAVs.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.406-411
• /
• 2021

PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cells generate only water as a by-product, and thus are in the spotlight as an eco-friendly energy source. Among the various components composing the stack of the fuel cell, research on the bipolar plate that determines the efficiency of the fuel cell is being actively conducted. The composite bipolar plate has high strength, rigidity and corrosion resistance, but has the disadvantage of having a relatively low electrical conductivity. In this study, to overcome these shortcomings, a gas diffusion layer (GDL)-composite bipolar plate assembly was developed and its performance was experimentally verified. The graphite foil coating method developed in the previous study was applied to reduce the contact resistance between the bipolar plate and the GDL. In addition, in order to improve electron path in the stack and minimize the contact resistance between the GDL and the bipolar plate, a GDL-bipolar plate assembly was fabricated using a thin metal foil. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the developed GDL-bipolar plate assembly had 98% lower electrical resistance compared to the conventional composite bipolar plate.

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

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.12a
• /
• pp.759-764
• /
• 2005

In this paper, numerical analysis of hydrogen recycle system has been conducted in order to enhance the efficiency of automotive fuel cell. Generally, the excess hydrogen is provided in the automotive fuel cell. Since the non-reaction hydrogen reduces automotive fuel cell efficiency, reuse of the non-reaction hydrogen can be helpful to improve the fuel cell performance. In case of PEM FC, the water vapor is provided to hydrogen from the cathode so that the mixture experiences phase change depending on the changes of pressure and temperature. The internal flow of the mixture in the hydrogen recirculation system of fuel cell was investigated for real flow conditions. The variation of performance, properties and mass fractions of mixture, hydrogen and water-vapor were investigated. This study was performed based on 80KW level automotive fuel cell's recycling system.

• Advances in Energy Research
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.73-84
• /
• 2014

Fuel cells of proton exchange membrane type (PEMFC) working with hydrogen in the anode and ambient air in the cathode ('air breathing') have been prepared and characterized. The cells have been studied with variable thickness of the cathode catalyst layer ($L_{CL}$), maintaining constant the platinum and ionomer loads. Polarization curves and electrochemical active area measurements have been carried out. The polarization curves are analyzed in terms of a model for a flooded passive air breathing cathode. The analysis shows that $L_{CL}$ affects to electrochemical kinetics and mass transport processes inside the electrode, as reflected by two parameters of the polarization curves: the Tafel slope and the internal resistance. The observed decrease in Tafel slope with decreasing $L_{CL}$ shows improvements in the oxygen reduction kinetics which we attribute to changes in the catalyst layer structure. A decrease in the internal resistance with $L_{CL}$ is attributed to lower protonic resistance of thinner catalyst layers, although the observed decrease is lower than expected probably because the electronic conduction starts to be hindered by more hydrophilic character and thicker ionomer film.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.57-65
• /
• 2010

Two types of microbial fuel cells(MFC) were continuously operated using synthetic wastewater. One was conventional two-chambered MFC using proton exchange membrane(PEM-MFC), the other was upflow type membraneless MFC(ML-MFC). Graphite felt was used as a anode in PEM-MFC. In membraneless MFC, two MFCs were operated using porous RVC(reticulated vitreous carbon) as a anode. Graphite felt was used as a cathode in all experiments. In experiment of PEM-MFC, the COD removal rate based on the surface area of anode was about $3.0g/m^2{\cdot}d$ regardless of organic loading rate. And the coulombic efficiency amounted to 22.4~23.4%. The acetic acid used as a fuel was transferred through PEM from the anodic chamber to cathodic chamber. The COD removal rate in ML-MFC were $9.3{\sim}10.1g/m^2{\cdot}d$, which indicated the characteristics of anode had no significant effects on COD removal. Coulombic efficiency were 3.6~3.7 % in both cases of ML-MFC experiments, which were relatively small. It was also observed that the microbial growth in cathodic chamber had an adverse effects on the electricity generation in membraneless MFC.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.427-441
• /
• 2022

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) serving as a separator that can prevent the permeation of unreacted fuels as well as an electrolyte that selectively transports protons from the anode to the cathode has been considered a key component of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The perfluorinated sulfonic acid-based PEMs, represented by Nafion®, have been commercialized in PEMFC systems due to their high proton conductivity and chemical stability. Nevertheless, these PEMs have several inherent drawbacks including high manufacturing costs by the complex synthetic processes and environmental problems caused by producing the toxic gases. Although numerous studies are underway to address these drawbacks including the development of sulfonated hydrocarbon polymer-based PEMs (SHP-PEMs), which can easily control the polymer structures, further improvement of PEM performances and durability is necessary for practical PEMFC applications. Therefore, this study focused on the various strategies for the development of SHP-PEMs with outstanding performance and durability by 1) introducing cross-linked structures, 2) incorporating organic/inorganic composites, and 3) fabricating reinforced-composite membranes using porous substrates.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
• /
• 2006.06a
• /
• pp.197-199
• /
• 2006

The Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) are being used in a variety of applications including portable power generation, transportation and back-up power systems. In this paper presents a novel circuit model for a PEMFC that can be used to design and analyze fuel-cell power system. The Pspice-based model uses BJTs, L and C elements available in the Pspice library with some modification. The model includes the phenomena like activation polarization, ohmic polarization and mass transport effect present in a PEM fuel cell. Simulated characteristics of the fuel cell were compared with the experimental results obtained on a commercial fuel cell.