Numerical Simulation of Metal-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (mSOFC)

Abstract

In this paper we present the numerical results of planar solid oxide fuel cell at the level of membrane electrode assembly, MEA. The study is aimed at evaluating the performance of metal-supported design versus the conventional anode-cathode support under co-flow and counter-flow conditions. We have found that the value of peak temperature is lower therefore better temperature distribution is achieved for metal supported design with counter-flow configuration. Moreover the corresponding current density at maximum power is also higher with this configuration. This later design however possesses greater concentration loss or over-potential due to fuel concentration gradient at the porous layer of supporting metal. To compensate this difference, we have proposed the modification of the current collector at the cathode side to reduce the ohmic loss, while minimizing the concentration loss at the reaction site. The result of this modification suggests an improvement of maximum power density from 0.984 W/cm2 to 1.034 W/cm2. This is slightly less than the value of an original version for only 0.132%. At this counter-flow configuration the value of peak temperature is also lower as compared with its counterpart with co-flow configuration.