Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society (한국수소및신에너지학회논문집)

The Korean Hydrogen and New Energy Society (한국수소및신에너지학회)
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Enhancing Flow Uniformity of Gas Separator for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells by Optimizing Dimple Patterns

딤플 패턴 최적화를 통한 고체산화물 연료전지 분리판의 흐름 균일도 향상

  • QUACH, THAI-QUYEN (Department of Clean Fuel and Power Generation, Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM)) ;
  • LEE, DONG KEUN (Department of Clean Fuel and Power Generation, Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM)) ;
  • AHN, KOOK YOUNG (Department of Clean Fuel and Power Generation, Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM)) ;
  • KIM, YOUNG SANG (Department of Clean Fuel and Power Generation, Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM))
  • 쿠엔 (한국기계연구원 청정연료발전연구실) ;
  • 이동근 (한국기계연구원 청정연료발전연구실) ;
  • 안국영 (한국기계연구원 청정연료발전연구실) ;
  • 김영상 (한국기계연구원 청정연료발전연구실)
  • Received : 2021.10.08
  • Accepted : 2021.10.20
  • Published : 2021.10.30
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Abstract

This study presents a novel way to enhance uniformity of the gas flow inside the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), which is critically important to fuel cell performance, by using dimples. A pattern of dimple, which works as a flow distributor/collector, is designed at the inlet and outlet section of a straight channel gas separator. Size of the dimples and the gap between them were changed to optimize the flow uniformity, and any change in size or gap is considered as one design. The results show that some dimple patterns significantly enhance the uniformity compared to baseline, about 4%, while the others slightly reduce it, about 1%. Besides, the dimple pattern also affects to the pressure drop in the flow channel, however the pressure drop in all cases are negligible (less than 26.4 Pa).

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was financially supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) through the National Innovation Cluster R&D program (P00015272_Development of Manufacturing Technology for Improving High Temperature Durability and Efficiency of Metal Bipolar for SOFC).

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