The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is one of the most promising power generation devices, with many favorable properties, such as fuel flexibility, compactness, and high volumetric and gravimetric power densities. Because the fuel cell units within a planar SOFC stack are connected in series, the individual cell unit that receives the minimum amount of gas flow is considered to play a prominent role in the overall stack performance. Additionally, a high net pressure drop throughout the stack will increase the parasitic power required to drive pumps or compressors. Therefore, achieving a high flow distribution uniformity among the piled repeated cell units with a low overall pressure deviation between the inlet and outlet manifolds is one of the main challenges associated with developing a planar SOFC stack, as this requirement is essential to achieve high overall stack performance.

In the present study, numerical analysis of a 5-cell planar SOFC stack was conducted in order to simulate and compare the fuel and air flow distribution characteristics, and to calculate the electrochemical reactions for different entrance and exit arrangement. To effectively conduct a three-dimensional computational analysis of the SOFC stack, ANSYS Fluent was used and an in-house code (User Defined Function) was employed to calculate the electrochemical reactions. The stack flow uniformity index and the standard flow deviation index were used to properly represent the flow distribution qualities among the piled cell units at stack level. In order to validate the modeling, I-V curves of simulated results were compared with experimental data. The temperature and the current density distributions in the cells were also examined by varying reactant flow rates. The voltage drop in the cells was also observed on the basis of reactants concentration.


Numerical Simulation of Flow Distribution and Electrical Performance of Sofc Stacks With Different Manifolds

Division / Sponsor:
Advanced Energy Systems Division (AESD) & Solar Energy Division (SED)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ES/ES2020/volume/83631

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