• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.37-43
• /
• 2008

The durability test of turbo-blower for PEM fuel cell is very important process of BOP development. It is a major barrier to the commercialization of these systems for stationary and transportation power applications. Commercial viability depends on improving the durability of the air supply system to increase the reliability and to reduce the lifetime cost. In this study, turbo-blower supported by oil-free bearing is introduced as the air supply system used by 80kW proton exchange membrane fuel systems. The turbo-blower is a turbo machine which operates at high speed, so air foil bearings suit their purpose as bearing elements. The impeller of blower was adopted mixed type of centrifugal and axial. So, it has several advantages for variable operating condition. The turbo-blower test results show maximum parasitic power levels below 1.67kW with the 30,000 rpm rotating speed, the flow rate of air has maximum 163SCFM(@PR1.1). For proper application of FCV, these have to durability test. This paper describes the experiment for confirming endurance and stability of the turbo-blower for 500 hours.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.471-480
• /
• 2017

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) operated at $150^{\circ}C$ was evaluated by a controlling different amount of phosphoric acid (PA) to a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) without humidification of the cells. The effects on MEA performance of the amount of PA in the cathode are investigated. The PA content in the cathodes was optimized for higher catalyst utilization. The highest value of the active electrochemical area is achieved with the optimum amount of PA in the cathode confirmed by in-situ cyclic voltammetry. The current density-voltage experiments (I-V curve) also shows a transient response of cell voltage affected by the amount of PA in the electrodes. Furthermore, this information was compared with the production variables such as hot pressing and vacuum drying to investigate those effect to the electrochemical performances.

• Plant Journal
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.45-51
• /
• 2014

This study performs several experiments on a newly developed temperature safety system that can be used for residential building heating systems, the heat source of which is derived from a conventional fuel cell. Prior to this, the hot water made from a fuel cell was not used in residential housing but just went to waste. The present safety system is installed in the current underfloor heating system. At first we used the CFD technique to develop a new heat exchanger. The fuel cell must satisfy the thermal conditions of the inlet temperature being $55^{\circ}C$ and the outlet temperature being $60^{\circ}C$. But variations in weather cause fluctuations in the heating water temperature. The experimental results show our new system capable of maintaining the temperature difference within a ${\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ range. So we believe that our new PFMFC fuel cell stack array is a good candidate for being used in residential heating systems.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.212-216
• /
• 2003

The humidification measurement system designed in laboratory was used to measure relative humidity and temperature of reaction gases passing through internal or external humidifier which was used in proton exchange membrane fuel cell test station. The relative humidity of gases was stabilized after $10\~20$ minutes and thus credibility of data could be assured. The effect of relative humidity on fuel cell performance could be analyzed by humidity measurement system. Extreme caution was needed to avoid humidity sensor mal-function or failure which is probable in experiment of high humidity condition near $100\%$. The amount of water carried by gas through humidifier was increased along the flow rate of gas. However, the extent of increase was lowered at high gas flow rate. These phenomena could be analyzed as residence time effect of gas in humidifier.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.61-68
• /
• 2017

Electrochemical conversion of $CO_2$ and production of $H_2$ were attempted on a three-dimensionally ordered, porous metal organic framework (MOF-74) in which transition metals (Co, Ni, and Zn) were impregnated. A lab-scale proton exchange membrane-based electrolyzer was fabricated and used for the reduction of $CO_2$. Real-time gas chromatography enabled the instantaneous measurement of the amount of carbon monoxide and hydrogen produced. Comprehensive calculations, based on electrochemical measurements and gaseous product analysis, presented a time-dependent selectivity of the produced gases. M-MOF-74 samples with different central metals were successfully obtained because of the simple synthetic process. It was revealed that Co- and Ni-MOF-74 selectively produce hydrogen gas, while Zn-MOF-74 successfully generates a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The results indicated that M-MOF-74 can be used as an electrocatalyst to selectively convert $CO_2$ into useful chemicals.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2014

Ceria ($CeO_2$) was used to scavenge free radicals which attack the membrane in the polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) circumstance and to increase the duration of the membrane. In order to improve the electrochemical, mechanical and electrocatalytic characteristics, engineering plastic of the sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK) as polymer matrix was prepared in the sulfonation reaction of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and the organic-inorganic blended composite membranes were prepared by sol-gel casting method with loading the highly dispersed ceria and cesium-substituted phophomolybdic acid(Cs-MoPA) with cross-linking agent contents of 0.01mL. In conclusion, CL-SPEEK/$Cs_{(2.5)}$-MoPA/ceria(1%) membrane showed the optimum results such as 0.1095S/cm of proton conductivity at $80^{\circ}C$, 2.906meq./g-dry-membrane of ion exchange capacity and mechanical characteristics, and 49.73MPa of tensile strength which were better than Nafion 117 membrane.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.310-315
• /
• 2012

A simple drying process was developed for the preparation of a Pt/Nafion self-humidifying membrane to be used for a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Platinum (II) bis (acetylacetonate), $Pt(acac)_2$ was sublimed, penetrated into the surface of a Nafion film and then reduced to Pt nanoparticles simultaneously without any support of a reducing agent in a glass reactor at $180^{\circ}C$ for 15 min. The process was carried out in $N_2$ atmosphere to prevent the oxidation of Pt nanoparticles at high temperature. The morphology and distribution of the Pt nanoparticles were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and we found that the average Pt particle size was ca. 3.7 nm, the penetration depth was ca. $17{\mu}m$. Almost all Pt nanoparticles were formed just beneath the surface and the number density decreased rapidly as the penetration depth increased. To estimate water absorption characteristics of the Nafion membranes, water uptake at an isothermal condition was measured by dynamic vapor sorption (DVS), and it was found that water uptake of the Pt/Nafion membrane was higher than that of the neat Nafion membrane.

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

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.53 no.4
• /
• pp.412-416
• /
• 2015

To evaluate the performance and durability of membrane, measurement of hydrogen crossover is needed during PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) operation. In this work, concentration of hydrogen at cathode was analysed by gas chromatograph during operation suppling with air instead of inert gas into the cathode. The hydrogen permeated through membrane reacted with oxygen at cathode and then the concentration of hydrogen was lower than in case inert gas was supplied. Hydrogen concentration decreased as the flow rate of air increased at cathode. Increase of temperature, humidity and pressure of anode gas enhanced the hydrogen concentration at cathode. The hydrogen concentration was about 5.0 ppm at current density of $120mA/cm^2$ during general PEMFC operation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.50 no.2
• /
• pp.187-190
• /
• 2012

Contamination of ion from cathode air on the membrane and electrode assembly (MEA) is the serious degradation source in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). In this study, concentration of ions in air at industry region, street and seaside were measured. There were comparably high concentration of $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ in this regions. This paper shows the effects of MEA contamination by these ions generated from humidification water. After 170 hours of fuel cell operation using city water as humidification water, the performance of unit cell decrease to 11% of initial performance. The electrolyte membrane easily absorbed foreign contaminant cations due to the stronger affinity of foreign cations with the sulfonic acid group compared to $H^+$. The contaminant ions existing in the interface between the platinum catalyst and ionomer layer turn out to be the most serious factor to decrease cell performance.