A Study of Transport Geometry on Heat/Mass Transfer and Polarization of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Available to Purchase

The main objective of this paper is to examine the effects of transport geometry on the efficiency of an electrolyte-supported solid oxide fuel cell. A three-dimensional thermo-fluid-electrochemical model is developed to the influences of channel dimensions, rib width and electrolyte thickness on the temperature, mass transfer coefficients, species concentration, local current density and power density. Results demonstrate that decreasing the height of flow channels can significantly lower the average solid temperature and improve the cell efficiency due to higher heat/mass transfer coefficient between the channel wall and flow stream, and a shorter current path. However, this improvement is limited for the smallest channel. The cell with a thicker rib width and a thinner electrolyte layer has higher efficiency and lower average temperature. Numerical simulation will be expected to help optimize the design of a solid oxide fuel cell.