A two-dimensional numerical model of a planar solid oxide fuel cell

Subject Areas : Journal of the Iranian Chemical Research

Norouz Mohammad Nouri ¹ , Amin Mirahmadi ² , Majid Kamvar ³

1 - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran

Received: 2010-10-01 Accepted : 2010-11-27 Published : 2010-12-31

Keywords: Modeling, Solid oxide fuel cell, Reaction zone layers, COMSOL Multiphysics,

Abstract :

A two-dimensional CFD model of a planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has been developed.This model can predict the performance of SOFC at various operating and design conditions.The effect of Knudsen diffusion is accounted in the porous electrode (backing) and reaction zonelayers. The mathematical model solves conservation of electrons and ions and conservation ofspecies. The model is formulated in COMSOL Multiphysics 3.4, a commercial Finite ElementMethod (FEM) based on software package. The objective of the present study is to compare theresults obtained from FEM with Control Volume Method (CVM) results obtained by Hussain etal. Both sets of results are compared with the experimental data published in literature. Theresults obtained by FEM show more accurate agreement with the experimental data. Finaly, theeffect of various operating and design parameters on the performance of SOFC has beenexamined.

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