Assessing the effect of electrochemically-driven non-uniformities of heat flux in a microtubular fuel cell on mSOFC temperature distribution

摘要

The general objective of our research was to develop a comprehensive model for the numerical modelling of a microtubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (mSOFC) stack based on an electrochemical fuel cell model coupled with a stack model via thermal boundary conditions. The heat flux obtained from the electrochemical model of a single mSOFC was implemented into the mSOFC stack model to take into account electrochemically-driven non-uniformities of the stack temperature. In this way, a spectrum of interactions was covered such as an impact of the neighbouring fuel cells of the stack on the air flow and temperature distributions. The cathode gas volume formed the computational domain at the stack level. To evaluate the mSOFC heat flux profiles the Membrane-Electrode Assembly (MEA) approach model was used at the single fuel cell level. Electrochemistry and charge transfer in the porous electrodes were taken into account by the standard ANSYS - Fluent approach assuming electrochemical reactions to take place at the electrode-electrolyte interface.