• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.5
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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.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.150-155
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• 2017

Proper cooling of PEM fuel cell stack is essential for the high-performance operation of fuel cell system. Insufficient cooling of the stack can cause significant damage to components due to overheating and also can decrease cell performance by dehydration of the polymer electrolyte. In the present study, we performed a computational analysis to assess the condition of the cooling system to secure the proper temperature in fuel cell stack system for high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2009

Recently, the research focused on fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHVs) is becoming an attractive solution due to environmental pollution generated by fossil fuel vehicles. The proper energy control strategy will result in extending the fuel cell lifetime, increasing of energy efficiency and an improvement of vehicle performance. Battery state of charge (SoC) is an important quantity and the estimation of the SoC is also the basis of the energy control strategy for hybrid electric vehicles. Estimating the battery's SoC is complicated by the fact that the SoC depends on many factors such as temperature, battery capacitance and internal resistance. In this paper, battery charging time estimated by SoC is studied by using the speed response and current response. Hybrid system is consist of a fuel cell unit and a battery in series connection. For experiment, speed response of vehicle and current response of battery were determined under different state of charge. As the results, the optimal battery charging time can be estimated. Current response time was faster than RPM response time at low speed and vice versa at high speed.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.48-59
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• 2016

The earth has been warming due to $CO_2$ gas emissions from fossil fuel cars and a ship. So the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle(FCV) using hydrogen as a fossil fuel alternative energy is in the spotlight. Hyundai Motor Company of Korea and a car companies of the US, Japan, Germany is developing a FCV a competitive. Obtained hydrogen as a by-product of the coke plant, oil refineries, chemical plants of steel mill, coal is reacted with steam at high temperatures, methane gas, manufacture of high purity hydrogen Methane Steam Reforming and hydrogen detachable reforming method using the Pressure Swing Adsorption or Membrane Reforming technical or decomposition of water to produce electricity. Hydrogen is the electronic industry, metal and chemical industries, which are used as rocket fuel, etc. are used in factories, hospitals, home of the fuel Ene.Farm system or FCV. And a method of storing hydrogen is to store liquid hydrogen and a method for compressing normal hydrogen to the hydrogen container, by storing the latest hydride or Organic chemical hydride method is used to carry the hydrogen station. Korea is currently 13 hydrogen stations in place and in operation, plans to install a further 43 places.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.485-493
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• 2016

Recently submarine and unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) are equipped with a fuel cell system as an air independent propulsion system. Methanol fuel processor can efficiently supply the hydrogen to the fuel cell system to improve the ability to dive. This study investigated the optimal conditions of the methanol fuel processor that may be used in the closed environment. For this purpose, the numerical model based on Gibbs minimization equation was established for steam reformer and three exhaust gas burners. After simulating the characteristics of steam reformer according to the steam-to-carbon ratio (SCR) and the pressure change, the SCR condition was able to narrow down to 1.1 to 1.5. Considering water consumption and the amount of heat recovered from three burners, the optimum condition of the SCR can be determined to be 1.5. Nevertheless, the additional heat supply is required to satisfy the heat balance of the methanol fuel processor in the SCR=1.5. In other to obtain additional amount of heat, the combustion of methanol is better than the increased of SCR in terms of system design.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.245-255
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• 2021

Various studies about metallic bipolar plates have been conducted to improve fuel cell performance through flow field design optimization. These research works have been mainly focused on fuel cells for vehicle, but not fuel cells for building. In order to reduce the price and volume of fuel cell stacks for building, it is necessary to apply a metallic flow field, In this study, for a metallic flow field applied to a fuel cell for building, the effect of a change in the flow field shape on the performance of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell was confirmed using a model and experiments with a down-sizing single cell. As a result, the flow field using a metal foam outperforms the channel type flow field because it has higher internal differential pressure and higher reactants velocity in gas diffusion layer, resulting in higher water removal and higher oxygen concentration in the catalyst layer than the channel type flow field. This study is expected to contribute to providing basic data for selecting the optimal flow field for the full stack of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells for buildings.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.232-241
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• 2023

The mechanical properties of the hydrogen valve responsible for supplying and blocking hydrogen gas in a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) were researched. Mechanical properties by hydrogen embrittlement were investigated by coating chromium nitride (CrN) and titanium nitride (TiN) on aluminum alloy by arc ion plating method. The coating layer was deposited to a thickness of about 2 ㎛, and a slow strain rate test (SSRT) was conducted after hydrogen embrittlement to determine the hydrogen embrittlement resistance of the CrN and TiN coating layers. The CrN-coated specimen presented little decrease in mechanical properties until 12 hours of hydrogen charging due to its excellent resistance to hydrogen permeation. However, both the CrN and TiN-coated specimens exhibited deterioration in mechanical properties due to the peeling of the coating layer after 24 hours of hydrogen charging. The specimens coated at 350 ℃ presented a significant decrease in ultimate tensile strength due to abnormal grain growth.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.188-193
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• 2009

Fuel cell vehicles are equipped with Pressure Relief Devices(PRDs) installed in pressure tank cylinder to prevent the explosion of the tank during a fire. PRDs are safety devices that perceive a fire and release gas in the pressure tank cylinder before it is exploded. But if the PRD does not actuate, because either the PRD fails or can't be surrounded by the flame of a fire, the tank will rupture and produce a blast wave and hydrogen fire ball. In this paper, we observed the fire behavior of actual fuel cell vehicle, comparing with that of gasoline vehicle.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.256-263
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• 2012

We studied the degradation phenomenon of Pt catalyst in PEMFC. We used the electron microscope analysis technique including the ultra-microtome pretreatment method, FEG-SEM and TEM analysis methods for analysis of Pt nanoparticles. The Pt catalyst degradation is observed not only in electrode site but also in membrane site. We investigated these various degradation phenomena. The cathode electrode layer thickness is reduced. The size of the catalyst is increased much larger than initial size in membrane site. The catalyst moved from electrode layer to the electrolyte membrane. The rounded shape of catalyst was changed to the polygon. As a result, we found that the catalyst degradation processes of migration and coarsening occurred by the followings mechanisms; (1) dissolution of Pt ; (2) diffusion of Pt ion ; (3) Pt ion chemical reduction in membrane; (4) Coarsening of Pt particles (Ostwald ripening) ; (5) polygon shape change of Pt by {111} plane growth.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2013

A compact hydrogen generation device of fuel cell system using chemical hydride storage technique was designed to fit the propulsion device requirement of a small unmanned aerial vehicle(SUAV). For high efficient, compact, and lightweight hydrogen generation control device, the Co-B catalyst hydrogen conversion rate by $NaBH_4$ aqueous solution flux is measured so that the proper amount of Co-B catalyst for maximum hydrogen generation of 100W stack was proposed. A compact hydrogen generation device is controlled by pump's on/off using its own internal pressure and consumes fuel in high efficiency through a dead-end type fuel cell. The fuel cell system has stable operation for a planed flight profile. The system operates up to maximum 7 hours and at least 4 hours for tough flight profiles.