Heat and mass transfer in a unitized regenerative fuel cell during mode switching

With the occurrence of reversible electrochemical reactions, mode switching considerably affects the electric performance of unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFCs) owing to the complicated mass and heat transfer. Although limited researches have been done, no such studies on mass and heat transfer through a three‐dimensional view are envisioned during mode switching. A three‐dimensional full‐cell model was developed and validated to study the dynamic characteristics of a proton exchange membrane‐based URFC during mode switching. Mode switching was performed by changing operation voltage from 0.60 to 1.65 V. Results showed that species and heat transfer affect the electric performance of the cell during mode switching, especially through the third dimensional. Local water starvation occurs on oxygen side catalyst layer and thus results in slight reduction on current density and hydrogen generation. Restricted to heat transfer capacity through ribs, heat transfer process adds total response time in URFCs. Heat flux and surface heat transfer coefficient are forecasted on the hydrogen and oxygen sides. A total time of 4 seconds is essential for URFC reaching a new relative balanced state.     

Effect of mode switching on the temperature and heat flux in a unitized regenerative fuel cell

Unitized regenerative fuel cells operate in not only fuel cell but also water electrolyzer mode. Heat management is important for the stable operation of unitized regenerative fuel cells. In this work, temperature and heat flux on the surface of the gas diffusion layer at the hydrogen side of a unitized regenerative fuel cell are experimentally measured using thin film sensors. Four pairs of sensors with good linear relation coefficient are inserted in the unitized regenerative fuel cell. The variation of temperature and heat flux on the gas diffusion layer surface during mode switching is obtained. The effect of mode switching on temperature and heat flux in the unitized regenerative fuel cell is analyzed. Experimental results show that reactant switching significantly affects temperature and heat flux. Reactant switching also causes decreased temperature and variation in heat flux. Despite of the decrease of temperature caused by the low-temperature water, the temperature increases with the operation of the URFC. When the effect of reactant switching is ignored, temperature is further found to increase in fuel cell and water electrolyzer modes, and heat flux remains relatively stable.     

Deterioration in heat transfer of endothermal hydrocarbon fuel

Numerical studies under supercritical pressure are carried out to study the heat transfer characteristics in a single-root coolant channel of the active regenerative cooling system of the scramjet engine, using actual physical properties of pentane. The relationships between wall temperature and inlet temperature, mass flow rate, wall heat flux, inlet pressure, as well as center stream temperature are obtained. The results suggest that the heat transfer deterioration occurs when the fuel temperature approaches the pseudo-critical temperature, and the wall temperature increases rapidly and heat transfer coefficient decreases sharply. The decrease of wall heat flux, as well as the increase of mass flow rate and inlet pressure makes the starting point of the heat transfer deterioration and the peak point of the wall temperature move backward. The wall temperature increment induced by heat transfer deterioration decreases, which could reduce the severity of the heat transfer deterioration. The relational expression of the heat transfer deterioration critical heat flux derives from the relationship of the mass flow rate and the inlet pressure.     

Experimental investigation on two‐phase flow in a unitized regenerative fuel cell during mode switching from water electrolyzer to fuel cell

Mode switching between fuel cell and water electrolyzer of a unitized regenerative fuel cell alters two‐phase flow dynamics in the channels. To fully understand the mode switching, the observation of two‐phase flow is necessary. In this work, experiments are conducted to investigate the two‐phase flow in the flow field of a unitized regenerative fuel cell during mode switching. A transparent window is assembled at the oxygen side to allow a direct view of the serpentine flow field. The two‐phase flow are captured by a high‐speed camera. Water has a significant effect on the mode switching. The switching from water electrolyzer to fuel cell is difficult because of the flooding problem. High temperature causes insufficient water in water electrolyzer mode without water supply and membrane dehydration in fuel cell mode. The voltage in fuel cell mode decreases more rapidly with fuel cell current density during mode switching.     

膜加湿器热质交换过程的理论分析

膜加湿器是保证质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)正常高效运行的重要组成部分.以燃料电池的板式膜加湿器为研究对象,根据热质交换原理对膜加湿器的传热传质过程进行了理论计算,分析了空气质量流量、膜内加湿侧进口温度和膜内加湿侧进口湿度对传热传质过程的影响.在传热方面:当空气质量流量不同时,随着膜内加湿侧进口温度的变化,膜内的热流量变化趋势不一致;当膜内加湿侧进口相对湿度为95%时,随着空气质量流量的变化,膜内热流量变化不大.在传质方面:当加湿侧进口相对湿度不变时,膜中水传输速率随着空气质量流量的增大而减小;当空气质量流量不变时,膜中水传输速率随着加湿侧进口相对湿度的增大而增大.     

Voltage response and two-phase flow during mode switching from fuel cell to water electrolyser in a unitized regenerative fuel cell

Mode switching operations between fuel cell (FC) and water electrolysis (WE) modes are indispensable to unitized regenerative FCs. Complicated electrochemical reactions and product transformations occur in the cell during mode switching. Thus, identifying dynamic behaviors during this procedure can improve cell durability and system design. In this study, the dynamic behaviors of cell voltage and electrochemical reaction during the switch from the FC mode to the WE mode are experimentally investigated. Reactant switching time significantly affects the electrochemical reactions. The water pumped into the cell in the FC mode reduces the cell voltage to a negative value and results in a hydrogen evolution reaction at the oxygen electrode side. Before FC mode voltage rapid decrease caused by supplied water, current transition could efficiently avoided the hydrogen evolution reaction at oxygen side. Ensuring that the moment water reaches the channels is close to the moment of current transition can improve the stability of unitized regenerative FCs.     

A transient analysis of a micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)

A two-dimensional, axisymmetric transient computational fluid dynamics model is developed for an intermediate temperature micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), which incorporates mass, species, momentum, energy, ionic and electronic charge conservation. In our model we also take into account internal current leak which is a common problem with ceria based electrolytes. The current density response of the SOFC as a result of step changes in voltage is investigated. Time scales associated with mass transfer and heat transfer are distinguished in our analysis while discussing the effect of each phenomenon on the overall dynamic response. It is found that the dynamic response is controlled by the heat transfer. Dynamic behavior of the SOFC as a result of failure in fuel supply is also investigated, and it is found that the external current drops to zero in less than 1 s.     

Experimental investigation on voltage response to operation parameters of a unitized regenerative fuel cell during mode switching from fuel cell to electrolysis cell

In this work, a proton exchange membrane unitized regenerative fuel cell with a 25 cm² active area and a transparent window was designed to study the influence of mode switching from the fuel cell mode to the electrolysis cell mode on the cell voltage and the gas‐liquid two‐phase flow behaviors in the oxygen flow channels. Results indicate that: the growth rate of electrolysis cell voltage before the water pumped to the oxygen flow channels decreases with the increase of the fuel cell current density; while the growth rate of electrolysis cell voltage before the water pumped to the oxygen flow channels increases with the cell temperature; the voltage of electrolysis cell mode before the water pumped to the oxygen flow channels decreases with the increase of water flow rate; the different voltage reduction speeds are attributed to the different water flow rates. The water temperature has an obscure influence on the cell voltage of electrolysis cell mode before the water pumped to the oxygen flow channels.     

Temperature Distribution and Heat Saturating Time of Regenerative Heat Transfer

In this paper, heat transfer of the ceramic honeycomb regenerator was numerically simulated based on the computational fluid dynamics numerical analysis software CFX5. The longitudinal temperature distribution of regenerator and gas were obtained. The variation of temperature with time was discussed. In addition, the effects of some parameters such as switching time, gas temperature at the inlet of regenerator, height of regenerator and specific heat of the regenerative materials on heat saturating time were discussed. It provided primarily theoretic basis for further study of regenerative heat transfer mechanism.     

Transient computation fluid dynamics modeling of a single proton exchange membrane fuel cell with serpentine channel

The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has become a promising candidate for the power source of electrical vehicles because of its low pollution, low noise and especially fast startup and transient responses at low temperatures. A transient, three-dimensional, non-isothermal and single-phase mathematical model based on computation fluid dynamics has been developed to describe the transient process and the dynamic characteristics of a PEMFC with a serpentine fluid channel. The effects of water phase change and heat transfer, as well as electrochemical kinetics and multicomponent transport on the cell performance are taken into account simultaneously in this comprehensive model. The developed model was employed to simulate a single laboratory-scale PEMFC with an electrode area about 20 cm². The dynamic behavior of the characteristic parameters such as reactant concentration, pressure loss, temperature on the membrane surface of cathode side and current density during start-up process were computed and are discussed in detail. Furthermore, transient responses of the fuel cell characteristics during step changes and sinusoidal changes in the stoichiometric flow ratio of the cathode inlet stream, cathode inlet stream humidity and cell voltage are also studied and analyzed and interesting undershoot/overshoot behavior of some variables was found. It was also found that the startup and transient response time of a PEM fuel cell is of the order of a second, which is similar to the simulation results predicted by most models. The result is an important guide for the optimization of PEMFC designs and dynamic operation.     

Two-dimensional dynamic simulation of a direct internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell

This study presents a two-dimensional mathematical model of a direct internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell (DIR-SOFC) stack which is based on the reforming reaction kinetics, electrochemical model and principles of mass and heat transfer. To stimulate the model and investigate the steady and dynamic performances of the DIR-SOFC stack, we employ a computational approach and several cases are used including standard conditions, and step changes in fuel flow rate, air flow rate and stack voltage. The temperature distribution, current density distribution, gas species molar fraction distributions and dynamic simulation for a cross-flow DIR-SOFC are presented and discussed. The results show that the dynamic responses are different at each point in the stack. The temperature gradients as well as the current density gradients are large in the stack, which should be considered when designing a stack. Further, a moderate increase in the fuel flow rate improves the performances of the stack. A decrease in the air flow rate can raise the stack temperature and increase fuel and oxygen utilizations. An increased output voltage reduces the current density and gas utilizations, resulting in a decrease in the temperature.     

Multi-physics modeling of a symmetric flat-tube solid oxide fuel cell with internal methane steam reforming

Methane is regarded as one of the ideal fuels for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) due to its huge reserves and transportation properties. In this study, a 3D numerical model coupling with chemical reaction, electrochemical reaction, mass transfer, charge transfer, and heat transfer is developed to understand the heat and mass transfer processes of methane steam direct internal reforming based on double-sided cathodes (DSC) SOFC. After the model verification, the parametric simulations are performed to study the effects of operating voltage, inlet temperature, and steam to carbon (S/C) ratio on the performance of a DSC. It is found that the non-uniform distribution of flow rate among channels results in the non-uniform distribution of each physical field. Increasing the inlet temperature significantly enhances the performance of DSC, however, when the temperature is above 1073 K, the concentration loss and the temperature gradient of DSC increase, which is not conducive to the long-term operation of the DSC. In addition, we revealed the effect of the S/C ratios on the heat and mass transfer process. This study provides an insight into the heat and mass transfer process of SOFC with a mixture of steam and methane and operating conditions for enhancing the performance.     

Characterizing heat transfer within a commercial-grade tubular solid oxide fuel cell for enhanced thermal management

A thermal transport model has been developed for analyzing heat transfer and improving thermal management within tubular solid oxide fuel cells (TSOFCs). The model was constructed via a proven electrochemical model and well-established heat transfer correlations. Its predictions compare favorably with other published data. Air temperatures consistently approach that of the fuel cell. This is primarily due to the high operating temperature of the cell (1000°C), the moderate magnitudes of radiation and airflow, and cell geometry. The required inlet air temperature (for thermally steady-state operation) has linear dependence on operating voltage and fuel utilization. Inlet air temperature has an inverse proportionality with respect to air stoichiometric number (i.e., inverse equivalence ratio). The current standard for airflow within TSOFCs was found to be excessive in consideration of the regenerative preheat effect within the supply pipes that feed air to the cell. Thermal management of simple TSOFC systems could be enhanced if commonly used air stoichiometric numbers were decreased.     

Simulation of the water and heat management in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

A non-isothermal and three-dimensional numerical model of a PEM fuel cell was developed to compute the water and heat management. Transport of water in the polymer membrane, phase change of water in the cathode porous medium and capillary flow to the gas channels were determined. Influences of these phenomena on fuel cells and conditions that may affect their performance have been numerically evaluated. Output variables are velocity, temperature, mass fraction, current density, voltage loss, water content of the polymer membrane, saturation and liquid flow fields. Cell voltage and total current density of PEM fuel cell were computed as well. Results show that there may be severe mass transfer limitations depending either on the design or on the water management of the cell. For the chosen conditions, the polymer membrane can keep and even increase its water content, as long as inlet flows are injected at 100% relative humidity. In case the fuel cell is operated under dehydrating conditions, the decrease of the water content of the polymer electrolyte may affect the performance. The variations of temperature were small. However, temperature plays an important role in the cathode reaction rate of the cell and in the dehydration of the polymer membrane. Numerical results and experimental data were found to be in good agreement.     

Mechanism and influence factor analysis of heat transfer deterioration of transcritical methane

A three-dimensional simulation, of transcritical flow, and heat transfer of methane, under asymmetric heating conditions, were performed. The simulation results demonstrated that the drastic changes in density at the pseudo critical temperature lead to an M-type velocity distribution, which plays a dominant role in the deterioration of heat transfer. The specific heat affects the location of the deterioration, while the thermal conductivity and viscosity affect only the wall temperature magnitude, whereas they do not affect the occurrence and location of heat transfer deterioration. The M-type velocity gradually disappears with the inlet mass flow rate increasing, indicating that heat transfer deterioration was eliminated. In addition, there is a critical inlet pressure of 10 MPa. When the inlet pressure is less than critical inlet pressure, heat transfer is improved with the inlet pressure's increase. However, when the inlet pressure is higher than critical inlet pressure, with inlet pressure increasing further, the decrease in the peak specific heat value will weaken the heat absorption capacity of methane, making the deterioration more severe. The deterioration of heat transfer will be improved by increasing the wall roughness, while the pressure drop will also be increased. The optimal wall roughness of 7 μm can be selected by using the thermal performance factor.     

采用床内强制对流进行传热传质的固体吸附式循环分析

采用一维两温度模型，以活性炭纤维－氨为工质对，模拟计算了对流热波循环的吸附床加热过程和冷却过程中床内的温度分布和变化趋势，并分析计算了对流热波循环的性能参数。系统的回热率达０．４，热泵效率达１．７８，热泵系统的能量密度为１６１６Ｗ／ｋｇ。对系统加以优化，可获得更高的回热率和ＣＯＰ。     

Investigation of a novel bayonet tube high temperature heat exchanger with inner and outer fins

In this paper, a novel bayonet tube high temperature heat exchanger (HTHE) with inner and outer fins is presented. It can be used in the ultra high temperature environment, such as hydrogen production, very high temperature reactor and externally fired combined cycle. Numerical investigation of heat transfer performance on the inside of bayonet element has been conducted for structure design. The numerical results suggest that the inner fin and inner tube should not be welded together. It is recommended that the air enters from the inner tube and exits from the annular space in the high temperature zone. A high temperature experimental system has been established to test the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the HTHE. The surface area density of the tested HTHE is 6 times higher than that of the bare bayonet tube heat exchanger. The experimental results indicate that the mass flow rate on both sides and inlet temperature on the fuel gas side have a significant effect on the heat transfer rate and effectiveness, while the pressure drop ratios are mainly affected by the mass flow rate rather than the inlet temperature. Comparison between the tested HTHE and the similar HTHE without fins indicates that the proposed HTHE has a significant potential to improve the comprehensive heat transfer performance.     

2D thermal modeling of a solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) for syngas production by H2O/CO2 co-electrolysis

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can be operated in a reversed mode as electrolyzer cells for electrolysis of H₂O and CO₂. In this paper, a 2D thermal model is developed to study the heat/mass transfer and chemical/electrochemical reactions in a solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) for H₂O/CO₂ co-electrolysis. The model is based on 3 sub-models: a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model describing the fluid flow and heat/mass transfer; an electrochemical model relating the current density and operating potential; and a chemical model describing the reversible water gas shift reaction (WGSR) and reversible methanation reaction. It is found that reversible methanation and reforming reactions are not favored in H₂O/CO₂ co-electrolysis. For comparison, the reversible WGSR can significantly influence the co-electrolysis behavior. The effects of inlet temperature and inlet gas composition on H₂O/CO₂ co-electrolysis are simulated and discussed.     

一体式再生燃料电池温度和热流密度非原位同步测量

一体式再生燃料电池的热流密度和温度分布的研究对电池热管理具有重要的意义。本文将自制的薄膜传感器植入一体式再生燃料电池中,进行非原位实验研究。在给定不同气体预热温度下,测量了一体式再生燃料电池内部热流密度和局部温度,并根据已得到的温度和热流密度计算出局部表面传热系数。结果表明,在不同的气体预热温度下,流道内气体的温度和气体扩散层表面的温差维持在3℃左右。气体扩散层表面的热流密度整体呈现出下降的趋势。靠近加热棒处的温度最高,但热流密度最低。相同的气体预热温度下,流道内气体和气体扩散层表面的温差对换热量的影响要大于温度梯度的影响;气体预热温度的上升对表面传热系数h的影响不大。30℃时,表面传热系数h值在450 ~ 750 W/(m²?K) 之间。40℃时,表面传热系数h在450 ~ 650 W/(m²?K)之间。     

溴化锂吸收式热泵的动态建模及运行特性分析

为充分挖掘吸收式热泵的动态运行特性,考虑各部件存量工质的储热特性建立考虑传质和分布参数的溴化锂吸收式热泵动态仿真模型。在机组各设备存量工质质量不同的情况下,分析了热源工质进口温度的提升对冷却水和冷媒水出口温度的动态影响及系统的热惯性特征,同时在热源工质进口、冷却水进口和冷媒水进口温度变化的情况下,分析了系统的性能系数(Coefficient of Performance, COP)变化特性及结晶风险变化特性。结果表明：该模型能准确地模拟吸收式热泵的稳态特性和动态特性;机组的热惯性主要与机组内各设备中的存量溶液质量有关;热源工质入口温度的上限受到系统COP及结晶风险的双重影响;冷却水入口温度的下降可增大系统COP,其下限受到结晶风险的限制;冷媒水入口温度的上限不受结晶特性限制;主要受用户侧的用能需求限制。