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A novel sinusoidal wavy interconnector for improved performance of SOFC

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Abstract

For the anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), the relatively thin cathode limits the oxygen transfer in-plane. In order to enhance the oxygen transfer in-plane, the interconnector with sinusoidal wavy channel is proposed for SOFC, termed the sinusoidal wavy interconnector (SWI). The effect of SWI is evaluated by numerical method. The oxygen transfer in-plane is promoted, especially at trough position, where the rib width is minimum. For SWI, the maximum oxygen concentration achieves 0.21 mol/m3 on the center line of the cathode/electrolyte interface, which is almost zero for the conventional interconnector. Finally, the effect of amplitude and cycle number on SOFC performance is investigated in detail. The result shows that the average oxygen concentration enhances with the increase of amplitude (A) and cycle number (Pe). When A is 0.4 mm, the average oxygen concentration is 1.51 mol/m3, an increase of 14.39 % from the conventional interconnector (A = 0 mm) of 1.32 mol/m3. In addition, for A = 0.25 mm, the average oxygen on the cathode/electrolyte interface is improved by 18% when Pe increases from 0 to 16. On the other hand, if the amplitude or cycle number is too large, the hindrance caused by the undulating side surface of SWI results in remarkable power consumption. Hence, when cycle number is 16, the effective power achieves the maximum at A = 0.35 mm, which increases by 18.3% compared to the conventional interconnector (A = 0).

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Abbreviations

A cell :

Cross-section area of cell (m2)

\({A}_{ch}^{ca}\) :

Cross-section area of air channel (m2)

\({A}_{ch}^{an}\) :

Cross-section area of fuel channel (m2)

ASR contact :

Contact resistance (Ωcm2)

B 0 :

Permeability coefficient (m2)

c i0 :

Molar concentration of species i at channel inlet (mol/m3)

C i :

Molar concentration of species i (mol/m3)

C p :

Specific heat capacity (J/kg)

D ij :

Binary diffusion coefficient (m2/s)

D iKn :

Knudsen diffusion coefficient of species i (m2/s)

D i :

Equivalent diffusion coefficient of speciesi (m2/s)

E 0 :

Nernst potential (V)

E out :

Output power (W)

E eff :

Effective power (W)

F :

Faraday constant (96,487 C/mol)

i el :

Electronic current density (A/m2)

i io :

Ionic current density (A/m2)

\({i}_{trans}^{an}\) :

Local transfer current at anode (A)

\({i}_{trans}^{ca}\) :

Local transfer current at cathode (A)

K eff :

Thermal conductivity (W/(m.K))

M i :

Molecular mass (kg/mol)

N i :

Molar flux (mol/m2/s)

R :

Universal gas constant (J/mol/K)

p :

Total pressure (Pa)

p 0 :

One atmospheric pressure (Pa)

\({p}_i^0\) :

Species i pressure at channel inlet (Pa)

\({p}_i^{TPB}\) :

Species i pressure at TPB (Pa)

Q ohm :

Ohmic heat source (W/m3)

Q act :

Active heat source (W/m3)

Q entr :

Entropy heat source (W/m3)

r g :

Pore radii (m)

T :

Operating temperature (K)

T ref :

Reference temperature (K)

u :

Convection velocity (m/s)

ν i :

Diffusion volume (m3/mol)

x i :

Molar fraction

Φel :

Local electronic potential (V)

Φio :

Local ionic potential (V)

V op :

Operational potential (V)

\({\sigma}_{el}^{eff}\) :

Effective conductivity (S/m)

\({\eta}_{act}^{an}\) :

Anode activation polarization (V)

\({\eta}_{act}^{ca}\) :

Cathode activation polarization (V)

ε :

The porosity

μ :

Viscosity coefficient of fluid (Pa·s)

ρ :

Density (kg/m3)

τ :

Tortuosity factor

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (22179054).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Power, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, Jiangsu, China

    Jiapei Liu, Heping Shao & Wei Kong

  2. Department of Power Engineering, Mordovia State University, Saransk, Mordovia, Russian Federation, 430005

    Anton Uezdin

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  1. Jiapei Liu
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  2. Heping Shao
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  4. Anton Uezdin
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Correspondence to Wei Kong.

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Liu, J., Shao, H., Kong, W. et al. A novel sinusoidal wavy interconnector for improved performance of SOFC. Ionics 29, 2393–2403 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-023-04972-6

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