• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.589-593
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• 2016

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) can produce electricity from oxidation-reduction of organic and inorganic matters by electrochemically active bacteria as catalyst. Stacked MFCs have been investigated for overcoming low electricity generation of single MFC. In this study, two-typed stacked-MFCs (submerged-flat and stand-falt) were operated according to electrode connection for optimal stacked technology of MFC. In case of submerged-flat MFC with all separator electrode assembly (SEA) sharing anode chamber, MFC with mixed-connection showed more voltage loss than MFC with single-connection method. And MFC stacked in parallel showed better voltage production than MFC stacked in series. In case of stand-flat MFC, voltage loss was bigger when SEAs sharing anodic chamber only were connected in series. Voltage loss was decreased when SEAs parallel connected SEAs sharing anodic chamber were connected in series.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.386-392
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• 2018

Fuel cells are known as eco - friendly energy facilities that can use heat energy and electric energy at the same time. Fuel cells are classified according to the temperature and material used, and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is relatively high temperature ($700-800^{\circ}C$). SOFC requires a hot box consisting of a high temperature stack, a reformer, a burner, and the heat exchangers in order to use energy efficiently. The hot box needs to maintain heat insulation performance at high temperature to reduce heat loss. However, Fibrous insulation, which is widely used, needs to be improved because it has a disadvantage that the thermal conductivity is rapidly increased due to the increase of temperature. Therefore, this study was carried out to develop a thermal insulation, which is applied to multiple layers insulation (MLI) technic, that can be used under SOFC operating conditions and prevent a drastic drop in thermal conductivity at high temperature. The developed insulation is consist of a thermally conductive material, a spacer, and a reflective plate. The thermal conductivity of the insulation was measured by in the thermal conductivity measuring device at high temperature range. As a result, it was confirmed that the developed layers insulation have an good thermal conductivity (0.116 W/mK) than fibrous insulation (0.24 W/mK) as a radiation shielding effect at a high temperature of 1,173 K.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2012

The characteristic features of solid oxide fuel cells are reviewed from the viewpoint of the thermodynamic variables to be developed inside cells/stacks particularly in terms of gradients of chemical potential, electrical potential and temperature and corresponding flows of air, fuel, electricity and heat. Examples of abrupt destruction of SOFC systems were collected from failures in controlling their steady flows, while continuous degradation was caused by materials behaviors under gradients of chemical potentials during a long operation. The local equilibrium approximation has been adopted in NEDO project on the durability/reliability of SOFC stacks/systems; this makes it possible to examine the thermodynamic stability/reactivity as well as mass transfer under the thermodynamic variable gradients. Major results of the NEDO project are described with a focus on degradation/deterioration of electrolyte and electrode materials.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.92.1-92.1
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• 2011

Anode off-gas of high temperature fuel cells such as MCFC contains a significant amount of combustible components like hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane according to fuel utilization ratio of the fuel cell stack. Thus, it is important to fully burn anode off-gas and utilize the generated heat in order to increase system efficiency and reduce emissions as well. In the present study, 25 kW catalytic combustor has been developed for the application to a load-following 300kW MCFC system. Mixing and combustion characteristics have been experimentally investigated with the catalytic combustor. Since the performance of catalytic combustor directly depends on the combustion catalyst, this study has been focused on the experimental investigation on the combustion characteristics of multiple catalysts having different structures and compositions. Results show that the exhaust emissions are highly dependent on the catalyst loading and the ratio of catalytic components. Test results at load-following conditions are also shown in the present study.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.68-76
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• 2021

Climate change problems occur during the use of fossil fuel and the process of biogas production. Research continues to convert carbon dioxide and methane, the major causes of climate change, into high-quality energy sources. in order to present the performance potential for the novel plasma-recuperative burner reformer, the reforming characteristics for each variable were indentified. The optimal operating condition of was an O2/C ratio of 1.0 and a total gas supply of 20 L/min. At this time, CH4 conversion was 64%, H2 selectivity was 39%, and H2/CO ratio was 1.13, which were the results applicable to the solid oxide fuel cell fuel stack for RPG, or Residential Power Generator. Recirculation of reformed gas increases the amount of H2 and CO, which are combustible gases, especially the amount of H2. As a result, the H2 selectivity is improved, and high-quality gas can be produced.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.74.2-74.2
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• 2010

전세계는 $CO_2$ 규제강화와 에너지의 효율적 사용에 대한 사회적, 경제적 요구가 증대되면서 친환경 에너지 설비와 지능형 전력망(smart grid)가 크게 예상되고 있다. 이에 따라 기존 내연기관에 근거한 발전산업 및 자동차 산업은 필연적으로 청정에너지 기반의 전기에너지로 점진적으로 대체될 것으로 판단된다. 따라서, 청정 발전 시스템의 보급 확대와 기존 에너지의 효율적 사용을 위해서 2차전지 기반의 전력저장 기술과 연료전지 기반의 분산발전 기술이 향후 미래에너지 산업의 근간이 되는 중요한 기술들로 부상하게 되었다. 아연/공기전지는 현재는 연료전지 개념의 1차전지에 기술수준이 머물러 있지만 향후 미래에는 기존의 리튬이온전지의 낮은 에너지밀도를 극복할 수 있는 미래 2차전지 기술의 하나로 평가받고 있다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 연료전지 개념의 아연/공기전지에 대하여 기존의 수소연료전지 기반의 분산발전 분야에 적용한다면 약 1/10 이하의 가격으로 조기에 시장진입이 가능할 것으로 판단하여 사전 타당성 연구 및 대면적화를 위한 기초 설계인자 연구를 수행하였다. 연구결과, 소형 단전지부터 약 800cm2까지의 대면적 단전지까지 대면적화를 위한 기초연구를 실시하였으며, 4개의 cell로 구성된 최고출력 90W급 전해질 순환형 미니스택 시스템을 구성하여 발전시스템으로서의 가능성과 문제점 등을 도출하였다. 이러한 시험결과를 바탕으로 25개의 cell로 구성된 약 1kW 급 스택을 설계하여 향후 소형 발전시스템을 제작하고자 하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2007

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) performance could be affected by various factors such as cell temperature, total pressure, partial pressure of reactants and relative humidity. Hydrogen ion is combined with water to form hydronium ion [$H_3O^+$] and pass through membrane resulting electricity generation. Cooling system is needed to remove heat and other uses on large scale fuel cell. In case that collant conductivity is increased, fuel cell performance could be decreased because produced electricity could be leaked through coolant. In this study, triple distilled water(TDW) and antifreeze solution containing ethylene glycol was used to observe resistance change. Resistance of TDW was taken 28 days to reach preset value, and effect on fuel cell operation was not observed. Resistance of antifreeze solution was not reached to preset value up to 48 days, but performance failure occurred presumably caused by bipolar plate junction resulting stoppage resistance experiment. Generally PEMFC humidification is performed near-saturated operating conditions at various temperatures and pressures, but non-humidifying condition could be applied in small scale fuel cell to improve efficiency and reduce system cost. However, it was difficult to operate large scale fuel cell without humidifying, especially higher than $50{\sim}60^{\circ}C$. In case of small flux such as 0.78 L/min, temperature difference between inlet and outlet was occurred larger than other cases resulting performance decrease. Non-humidifying performance experiments were done at various cell temperature. When both of anode and cathode humidification were removed, cell performance was strongly depended on cell operating temperature.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.593-601
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• 2011

An analysis program to simulate the operation of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system was set up, and system operation with variations in the working conditions of various components (especially the thermal management system) was simulated. The entire system included a PEMFC stack and balance-of-plant components such as an air-supply unit, a fuel-supply unit, and a heat-management unit (cooling system). Thermodynamic models of all components were made to evaluate the design performance of the entire system, and then off-design models were set up to simulate the operation of the entire system under arbitrary working conditions. A parametric study was carried out to examine the effects of varying the operating conditions (especially the ambient conditions and the operating conditions of the cooling system) on the operation and performance of the entire system.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.136-146
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• 2019

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) based hybrid desiccant cooling system model is developed to study the effect of fuel utilization rate of the SOFC on the reduction of energy consumption and $CO_2$ emission. The SOFC-based hybrid desiccant cooling system consists of an SOFC system and a Hybrid desiccant cooling system (HDCS). The SOFC system includes a stack and balance of plant (BOP), and HDCS. The HDCS consists of desiccant rotor, indirect evaporative cooler, electric heat pump (EHP), and heat exchangers. In this study, using energy load data of a commercial office building and SOFC-based HDCS model, the amount of ton of oil equivalent (TOE) and ton of $CO_2$ ($tCO_2$) are calculated and compared with the TOE and $tCO_2$ generation of the EHP using grid electricity.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.300-308
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• 2009

In a pursuit of the development of alternative mobile power sources with a high energy density, a planar and air-breathing PEMFCs with a new type of hydrogen cartridge which uses onsite $H_2$ generated from sodium borohydride ($NaBH_4$) hydrolysis have been investigated for use in advanced power systems. Two types of $H_2$ generation through $NaBH_4$ hydrolysis are available: (1) using organic acids such as sulphuric acid, malic acid, and sodium hydrogen carbonate in aqueous solution with solid $NaBH_4$ and (2) using solid selected catalysts such as Pt, Ru, CoB into the stabilized alkaline $NaBH_4$ solution. It might therefore be relevant at this stage to evaluate the relative competitiveness of the two methods mentioned above. The effects of flow rate of stabilized $NaBH_4$ solution, MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly) improvement, and type and flow control of the catalytic acidic solution have been studied and the cell performances of the planar, air-breathing PEMFCs using $NaBH_4$ has been measured from aspects of power density, fuel efficiency, energy density, and fast response of cell. In our experiments, planar, air-breathing PEMFCs using $NaBH_4$ achieved to maximum power density of 128mW/$cm^2$ at 0.7V and energy efficiency of 46% and has many advantages such as low operating temperature, sustained operation at a high power density, compactness, the potential for low cost and volume, long stack life, fast star-up and suitability for discontinuous operation.