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Experimental study on current distribution in parallel-connected solid oxide fuel cell strings

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Abstract

To increase the power generated by solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), multiple cells have to be connected into a stack. Nonuniformity of cell performance is a worldwide concern in the practical application of stack, which is known to be unavoidable and caused by manufacturing and operating conditions. However, the effect of such nonuniformity on SOFCs that are connected in parallel has not been discussed in detail so far. This paper provides detailed experimental data on the current distribution within a stack with nonuniform cells in parallel connection, based on the basics of electricity and electrochemistry. Particular phenomena found in such a parallel system are the “self-discharge effect” in standby mode and the “capacity-proportional-load sharing effect” under normal operating conditions. It is believed that the experimental method and results proposed in this paper can be applied to other types of fuel cell or even other energy systems.

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Abbreviations

OCV:

Open circuit voltage/V

ΔOCV:

Open circuit voltage difference between cell strings/mV

S1, S2, S3, S4, S5:

Single cell string with four cells connected in series

RSD:

Relative standard deviation of the cell string performance/%

i p :

Parallel current/mA

pO2 :

Partial pressure of oxygen/%

R 0 :

Ohmic resistance/Ω

ΔR 0 :

Increment of ohmic resistance with shunt/Ω

R p :

Polarization resistance/Ω

ΔR p :

Increment of polarization resistance with shunt/Ω

Χ 2 :

Goodness of fit for DRT analysis

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2021YFB2500400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22209149), and the Leading Innovative and Entrepreneur Team Introduction Program of Zhejiang, China (Grant No. 2020R02015).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mathematics and Computer Science, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou, 311300, China

    Jia Lu & Jian Wu

  2. Zhejiang Zhentai Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Lishui, 321400, China

    Qiang Hu & Jian Wu

Authors
  1. Jia Lu
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  2. Qiang Hu
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  3. Jian Wu
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Correspondence to Qiang Hu.

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Competing Interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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11708_2024_941_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Supporting information for Experimental study on current distribution in parallel-connected solid oxide fuel cell strings

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Lu, J., Hu, Q. & Wu, J. Experimental study on current distribution in parallel-connected solid oxide fuel cell strings. Front. Energy (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-024-0941-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-024-0941-9

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