• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.254-261
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• 2002

The fabrication method for the main components of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stack such as electrodes, membrane-electrode assemblies, and bipolar plates was established for the effective electrode area of 240 ㎠. A counter-flow type 100-cell stack was fabricated by using the above components and then a maximum power of 7.44 kW for H$_2$/O$_2$ and 5.56 kW for H$_2$/air could be obtained at 70$\^{C}$ and 1 atm. It was seen that the distribution of the OCV for unit cells in the stack was uniform but the voltage deviation increased as the load increased due to the IR drop and the electrode polarization. The stack was applied to the power source of the fuel cell/battery hybrid electric golf car. It produced about 1 kW at a room temperature operation during the test run, which occupied about 43% of the total power required by the 2.3 kW motor.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.11-19
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• 2012

The main function of fuel cell manifold is to render reactants distribution as uniform as possible into a fuel cell stack. The purpose of this study is to numerically investigate the effects of stack manifold design on reactants distribution within a fuel cell stack. Four manifold designs with different manifold entrance shapes (expansion or diffuser) and different values of the extra width between the cell outer channel and manifold side wall are considered and applied to the fuel cell stack consisting of 50 cells. Since the fuel cell stack geometry involves several millions of grid points for numerical calculations, a parallel computing methodology is employed to substantially reduce the computational time and overcome the memory requirement. The numerical simulations are carried out and calculated results clearly demonstrate that both the manifold entrance shape and extra width have a substantial influence on manifold performance, controlling the degree of flow separation and entrance length for fully developed flow in the manifold channel. Finally, we suggest the optimum design of fuel cell manifold based on the simulation results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2015

In this study, among in various scenarios of the duration degradation of the fuel cell, countermeasures for the cathode carbon carrier oxidation and the deactivation of catalyst by hydrogen / air interface formation have been studied. so the system was applied to the air cutoff valve. In terms of the component, the cold start performance, electrical stability, the airtight performance were mainly designed and their performance was confirmed. And in terms of the system, the air electrode flow is blocked off, so the oxygen concentration drops when system is powered off, As a result, By reducing unit cell voltage which affect the durability of the fuel cell reached up to 0.8V, the improved durability of the fuel cell was confirmed.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.07b
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• pp.1722-1724
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• 2005

The focus of this paper is to develop a mathematical model for investigating the dynamic performance of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. The model in this work is based on physical laws having clear significance in replicating the fuel cell system and can easily be used to set up different operational strategies. Simulation results display the transient behavior of the voltage within each single cell, and also within a number of such single cells combined into a fuel cell stack system. A linear as well as a nonlinear analysis of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system(PEMFC) has been discussed in order to present a complete and comprehensive view of this kind of modeling. Also, a comparison of the two kinds of analysis has been performed. Finally, the various characteristics of the fuel cell system are plotted in order to help us understand its dynamic behavior. Results indicate that there is a considerable amount of error in the modeling process if we use a linear model of the fuel cell. Thus, the nonlinearities present in the fuel cell system should be taken into account in order to obtain a better understanding of the dynamic behavior of the fuel cell system.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.250-255
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• 2012

In this paper, the development and performance analysis of a fuel cell-powered unmanned aerial vehicle is described. A fuel cell system featuring 1 kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell combined with a highly pressurized fuel supply system is proposed. For the higher fuel consumption efficiency and simplification of overall system, dead-end type operation is chosen and each individual system such as purge system, fuel supply system, cooling system is developed. Considering that fluctuation of exterior load makes it hard to stabilize fuel cell performance, the power management system is designed using a fuel cell and lithium-ion battery hybrid system. After integration of individual system, the performance of unmanned aerial vehicle is analyzed using data from flight and laboratory test. In the result, overall system was properly operated but for more duration of flight, research on weight lighting and improvement of fuel efficiency is needed to be progressed.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.3475-3481
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• 2014

This paper describes how primary contaminants in ambient air affect the performance of the cathode in fuel cell electric vehicle applications. The effect of four atmospheric pollutants ($SO_2$, $NH_3$, $NO_2$, and CO) on cathode performance was investigated by air impurity injection and recovery test under load. Electrochemical analysis via polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was performed for various concentrations of contaminants during the impurity test in order to determine the origins of performance decay. The variation in cell voltage derived empirically in this study and data reported in the literature were normalized and juxtaposed to elucidate the relationship between impurity concentration and performance. Mechanisms of cathode degradation by air impurities were discussed in light of the findings.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.311-319
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• 2013

A clear understanding on cell voltage-reversal behavior due to local hydrogen starvation in a stack is of paramount importance to operate the fuel cell vehicle (FCV) stably since it affects significantly the cell performance and durability. In the present study, a novel experimental method to simulate the local cell voltage-reversal behavior caused by local hydrogen starvation, which typically occurs only one or several cells out of several hundred cells in a stack of FCV, has been proposed. Contrary to the conventional method of overall fuel starvation, the present method of local hydrogen starvation caused the local cell voltage-reversal behavior in a stack very well. Degradation of both membrane electrode assembly (i.e., pin-hole formation) and gas diffusion layer due to an excessive exothermic heat under voltage-reversal condition was also observed clearly.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.83.1-83.1
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• 2010

A Dead-end mode operation is one of the best way to maximize the gas usage rate. But, some components of fuel cell stack like gas diffusion layer(GDL) or membrane can be damaged in dead-end mode operation. In this study, a Large Scale Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) for a dead-end operation has been developed. The stack is composed with 4 cells which has over 400cm2 of active area. Hydrogen is used as a fuel, and oxygen is used as a oxidant. The dead-end operation performance was evaluated by a long-term dead-end mode operation. The fuel cell stack is operated over 1,500 hours in dead-end mode operating fuel cell test station. And the performance change of the fuel cell stack was investigated.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.759-764
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• 2005

In this paper, numerical analysis of hydrogen recycle system has been conducted in order to enhance the efficiency of automotive fuel cell. Generally, the excess hydrogen is provided in the automotive fuel cell. Since the non-reaction hydrogen reduces automotive fuel cell efficiency, reuse of the non-reaction hydrogen can be helpful to improve the fuel cell performance. In case of PEM FC, the water vapor is provided to hydrogen from the cathode so that the mixture experiences phase change depending on the changes of pressure and temperature. The internal flow of the mixture in the hydrogen recirculation system of fuel cell was investigated for real flow conditions. The variation of performance, properties and mass fractions of mixture, hydrogen and water-vapor were investigated. This study was performed based on 80KW level automotive fuel cell's recycling system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.579-582
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• 2008

PEM Fuel cell system was designed and constructed to use as a power source of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAV) in the present study. Sodium borohydride was selected as a hydrogen source and was decomposed by catalytic hydrolysis reaction. Fuel cell system consists of a fuel cell stack, a hydrogen generation system(HGS), and power management system(PMS). HGS was composed of a catalytic reactor, micropump, fuel cartridge, and separator. Hybrid power system between lithium-polymer battery and fuel cell was developed. The fuel cell system was integrated and packaged into a blended wing-body UAV. Energy density of the total system was 1,000 $W{\cdot}hr/kg$ and high endurance more than 5 hours was accomplished in the ground tests.