Simulation and Investigation of Electrical Performance and Gas Pressure Distributions in a Planar SOFC

摘要

A computational two-dimensional model has been developed to simulate the electrical performance and gas pressure distributions in electrodes and gas channels of the planar SOFC designed by IPPE. The SOFC includes a three-layer cell (anode, electrolyte and cathode) enclosed by metallic interconnects which contain ribs functioning as contacts for current collectors above and below. The SOFC is divided into uniform unit cells in a horizontal plane. The unit cell is characterized by essentially non-uniform boundary conditions which are formulated. For the unit cell governing equations for electric potentials and partial pressures of fuel and air components were solved numerically using the finite-difference method. Gas component migration processes were described in the frame of "dusty-gas model". The model developed was used to investigate the influence of an interconnect design on SOFC electrical performance. The results of the investigation are presented in this work.