Development of kW Class Planar Type SOFC Stacks and a 5kW Class Cogeneration System

Korea Electric Power Research Institute (KEPRI) has studied anode-supported planar type SOFCs and cogeneration systems. The cell was composed of NiO-YSZ/YSZ/LSCF and the fabrication process of 10 × 10 cm² and 15 × 15 cm² cells was established. KEPRI successfully manufactured and operated a 1 kW class SOFC cogeneration system in 2008. The 1 kW stack was made of 48 cells with 10 × 10 cm² area and ferritic stainless steel interconnectors. The 1 kW system showed about 1.3 kW_DC power with hydrogen and 1.2 kW_DC with a city gas under self-sustained operating condition. The system also recuperated heat of about 1.1 kW by making hot water. A 5 kW SOFC system consisted of a hot box part and a cold BOP part for the effective thermal management. The hot box part included 2 sub-module stacks, a fuel reformer, a catalytic combustor and heat exchangers. A sub-module stack was designed to comprise 65 cells with 15 × 15 cm² area and ferritic stainless steel interconnectors. The system was manufactured and tested using short stacks.