Thermal/Fluids Analysis of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Operation
EMSL Project ID
2197
Abstract
PNNL is dedicated to design and develop a 5 kW Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) stack which has the capability to startup rapidly and operate under dynamic loading conditions for extended periods of time and for a large number of startup and cool-down cycles. The objective of the proposed modeling is to simulate the startup of SOFC stacks from a thermal/fluids perspective. This startup modeling is presently being implemented in the SOFC stack design development process here at PNNL. These models will eventually incorporate the electro-chemistry and will simulate the quasi-steady stack operation.The 3-dimensional thermal/fluids models are created and the simulations are performed using the commercial CFD code, Star-CD. The modeling approach for startup is to simulate the transient heating of SOFC stacks from ambient to light-off temperature. These full-stack models can be modified, as indicated by results, to reduce thermal gradients and to speed heatup. Modifications may include those made to geometry, flow conditions and rates, temperature control, and boundary conditions. The Star-CD full-stack models contain at least 0.5 million computational cells and require the use of a GPFS equipped HPC machine to perform the transient simulations. PNNL has a site license for Star-CD, so it can be installed and run on any machine operated by the Lab.
Project Details
Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2001-03-05
End Date
2001-10-15
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator