Mass and current uniformity for planar solid oxide fuel cells with discrete landing structured flow fields: A three-dimensional numerical analysis

The rational design of flow fields is of vital importance for the internal distribution uni-formity and overall power output of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). This study reports the design of discrete cylindrical landing flow fields for planar SOFCs to tackle the in-plane unevenness problems. The effect of key geometric parameters on the internal mass and current distribution and the overall power output of SOFCs has been investigated using three-dimensional (3D) multi-physics numerical simulations. It is found that the cylin-drical landing flow fields significantly reduce the local variation of mass distribution and improve the uniformity of current distribution compared with the parallel landing flow fields. The overall output performance of the cell is improved by the cylindrical landing flow field (D2.0-S1.0) due to the synergetic effect of increased pressure drop, enhanced gas transport and reduced ohmic loss. The results of this study demonstrate the effective of the cylindrical landing flow fields for improving the distribution uniformity of planar SOFCs and provide theoretical insights for further development and optimization of the cylindrical landing flow fields for related applications.(c) 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study investigates the effect of discrete cylindrical landing flow fields on the internal distribution and overall power output of SOFCs. It is found that the cylindrical landing flow fields significantly reduce the local variation of mass distribution and improve the uniformity of current distribution, leading to improved overall output performance.