Abstract
The start-up of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is investigated by means of numerical simulation with a view to material and operational constraints on a component and system level, as well as thermo-mechanical stresses. The applied multi-physics modeling approach couples thermal-, electrochemical, chemical-, and thermo-mechanical phenomena. In addition to constraints, emphasis is given to degrees of freedom with respect to manipulated and controlled variables of the system. Proper ramping during the start-up procedure keeps critical parameter values within a safe regime. Of particular interest are gradient in terms of temperature and chemical concentrations. Nevertheless, simulations show that thermo-mechanical stresses are relatively high during the initial start-up phase, the system is, thus, more susceptible to failure. The combination of multi-physics modeling in conjunction with practical control aspects for start-up of an SOFC, which is presented in this paper, is important for applications.
Highlights
For the energy balance check of the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) the supplied heat through the feed gas, as well as electrochemical reactions need to be taken into account
The original thermodynamic model is based on References [59,60], which was validated against results from cited references
From a practical point of view, the number of conditions that need to be controlled during start-up is relatively extensive, resulting in a complex start-up procedure for the SOFC system
Summary
Issues remain to obtain sufficient lifetime for a wide application, including irreversible degradation of electrodes, electrolyte, and sealing materials linked to the fuel contaminants (further discussed below) [9,10,11,12,13,14]
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