Numerical Analysis of Thermal Stress for a Stack of Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Jianmin Zheng, Liusheng Xiao, Mingtao Wu, Shaocheng Lang, Zhonggang Zhang, Ming Chen, Jinliang Yuan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

In this work, a 3D multi-physics coupled model was developed to analyze the temperature and thermal stress distribution in a planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack, and then the effects of different flow channels (co-flow, counter-flow and cross-flow) and electrolyte thickness were investigated. The simulation results indicate that the generated power is higher while the thermal stress is lower in the co-flow mode than those in the cross-flow mode. In the cross-flow mode, a gas inlet and outlet arrangement is proposed to increase current density by about 10%. The generated power of the stack increases with a thin electrolyte layer, but the temperature and its gradient of the stack also increase with increase of heat generation. The thermal stress for two typical sealing materials is also studied. The predicted results can be used for design and optimization of the stack structure to achieve lower stress and longer life.
Original languageEnglish
Article number343
JournalEnergies
Volume15
Issue number1
Number of pages18
ISSN1996-1073
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Thermal stress
  • SOFC stack
  • Flow arrangement
  • CFD
  • Modeling

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