Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, Stack and System Development Status at Forschungszentrum Jülich

Abstract

Based on more than 20 years of scientific development, Forschungszentrum Jülich is still continuously improving its SOFC technology. Based on a warm pressing process, anode supported cells have been tested in stack sizes up to 5 kW. Recent cell developments focused on tape-casting and sequential tape-casting. The enhanced thermo-mechanical robustness of stacks in the kW range was demonstrated by successfully cycling 100 times between 200 and 700 °C. To be able to utilize also anode supported cells from other manufacturers, the design was modified to a window frame layout, integrating four 10×10 cm² cells in one layer. A 20 kW system was operated for about 7000 hours in total, demonstrating thereby the suitability of the module and system concept developed in JÜLICH. As special highlights, long-term tests with short stacks have now reached operation times of 65,200 h and 34,500 h, respectively. As relatively new subject the activities in high temperature electrolysis are briefly outlined.