Thermal Radiation and Effects on Transport Processes in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

The major processes significant for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) characteristics are species transport, electrochemical reactions, electronic and ionic transport, heat transfer, and temperature distribution. Of particular significance is an accurate determination of the temperature distribution because material properties, chemical kinetics, and transport properties depend heavily on the temperature. Thermal radiation may play an important role because of the high operating temperature. The present work concerns a review of thermal radiation and effects on heat transfer and gas flow modeling developments in the SOFCs. The different models are compared in terms of cell designs, flow regimes, thermal sources considered, boundary conditions used, and whether the participating gases were concerned in the models. Some useful remarks and conclusions are drawn.