Lu, Yixin
(2005)
NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF A FLAT-TUBE HIGH POWER DENSITY SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
In recent years, fuel cells have been deemed to be a low-polluting fuel consuming power-generation technology with high efficiency. They are an important technology for a potentially wide variety of applications. Among fuel cell types, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) have the recognized potential to be one of most promising distributed power generation technologies. Tubular SOFCs have evolved over last two decades, and work is currently underway to reduce cell cost toward commercialization. Further SOFC development is needed in order to achieve a commercially competitive cell and stack cost. A flat-tube high power density (HPD) SOFC is a newly designed cell of a different geometry from a tubular SOFC. It has increased power density, but still maintains the tubular SOFC¡¯s beneficial feature of secure sealing. In this study, heat/mass transfer and fluid flow in a single flat-tube high power density SOFC is investigated using a self-developed code in FORTRAN. The temperature fields, concentration fields and velocity fields in different chambers of a flat¨Ctube HPD SOFC are studied.Based on the temperature fields and species concentration fields, an overall electrical performance of a flat-tube high power density SOFC is performed using a commercial tool for electrical circuit analysis. The effects of the stack chamber numbers, stack shape and other stack features on the performance of the flat-tube HPD SOFC are also studied. The results show that the performance of a flat-tube HPD SOFC is better than a tubular SOFC with the same active cell surface, and that increasing the chamber number can improve the overall performance and power/volume rating for a flat-tube HPD SOFC. The study helps to design and optimize the flat-tube HPD SOFC for practical applications so as to achieve widespread utilization of SOFCs. In this study, one interesting application example for the SOFC is also presented.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
21 June 2005 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
15 December 2004 |
| Approval Date: |
21 June 2005 |
| Submission Date: |
25 February 2005 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Swanson School of Engineering > Mechanical Engineering |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
High power density; Solid oxide fuel cell; Numeric |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-02252005-124923/, etd-02252005-124923 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:31 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:36 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/6403 |
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