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Non-reacting flow distributions under various SOFC stack configurations
Author(s)
Date Issued
December 1, 2007
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
A 3-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for fuel cell stack simulations has been developed using STAR-CD with effect of buoyancy force. A flow distribution in a planar fuel cell stack with straight gas channels is considered with variation in gas feeding directions. Any electrochemical interaction is neglected. Eight flow configurations comprising of three parameters were investigated, i.e.; i) vertical and horizontal orientations of the cell stack, ii) U-shape and Z-shape flow patterns, and iii) upward and downward feeding directions. For these configurations, the velocity distributions across the stack were compared. The better flow distribution was observed for air with U-shape flow pattern and upward feeding. For fuel side, the flow with U-shape downward yields a relatively better flow distribution. Moreover, the results indicate that the effect of feeding direction is small in the stack with Z-shape flow. © The Electrochemical Society.
Citation
Ecs Transactions, 7(1 PART 2), 2005-2011, 2007