Gas Flow and Heat Transfer Analysis for an Anode Duct in Reduced Temperature SOFCs

Author(s):  
Jinliang Yuan ◽  
Masoud Rokni ◽  
Bengt Sunde´n

In this study, a fully three-dimensional calculation method has been further developed to simulate and analyze various processes in a thick anode duct. The composite duct consists of a porous layer, the flow duct and solid current connector. The analysis takes the electrochemical reactions into account. Momentum and heat transport together with gas species equations have been solved by coupled source terms and variable thermo-physical properties (such as density, viscosity, specific heat, etc.) of the fuel gases mixture. The unique fuel cell conditions such as the combined thermal boundary conditions on solid walls, mass transfer (generation and consumption) associated with the electrochemical reaction and gas permeation to / from the porous electrode are applied in the analysis. Results from this study are presented for various governing parameters in order to identify the important factors on the fuel cell performance. It is found that gas species convection has a significant contribution to the gas species transport from / to the active reaction site; consequently characteristics of both gas flow and heat transfer vary widely due to big permeation to the porous layer in the entrance region and species mass concentration related diffusion after a certain distance downstream the inlet.

Author(s):  
Guogang Yang ◽  
Wei Wei ◽  
Jinliang Yuan ◽  
Danting Yue ◽  
Xinrong Lv

A composite combustion duct in compact methane reformers consists of a gas flow channel, porous layer and solid plates. There are various transport processes appeared, such as gas flow in the channel, multi-component species convection/diffusion in the porous layer, and heat transfer. They are further coupled by methane catalytic combustion in the porous layer, which affects the reformer overall performance and reliability. By three dimensional CFD approach, the reacting gas flow and heat transfer processes were numerically studied. The reformer conditions such as mass balances associated with the chemical reaction and gas permeation to/from the porous layer are implemented in the calculation. The results reveal that the catalytic combustion reaction is confined in a thin porous catalyst area close to fuel gas flow duct. Transport processes of the fuel gas species and temperature distribution are significantly affected by the reactions.


Author(s):  
Ammar Tariq ◽  
Zhenyu Liu

Abstract With the recent advances in micro devices, an accurate gas flow and heat transfer analysis become more relevant considering the slip effect. A micro-scale, multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann method with double distribution function approach is used to simulate flow and heat transfer through circular- and diamond-shaped cylinders at the porescale level. The velocity slip and temperature jump are captured at the boundaries using a non-equilibrium extrapolation scheme with the counter-extrapolation method. A pore-scale domain of micro-cylinders comprised of circle and diamond shape are studied. It is found that the permeability increases linearly with an increase in Knudsen number for both circular- and diamond-shaped cylinders. However, the permeability increase for circular obstacle is larger than that of the diamond one. A larger surface area for diamond cylinder will offer more resistance to flow, hence resulting in lower values. For heat transfer, the Nusselt number shows an increase with increasing Reynolds number, however, it decreases with the increase in porosity. Nusselt number values are found to be higher for a circular obstacle. A variable boundary gradient for circular obstacle could be a possible explanation for this difference.


Author(s):  
V. P. Malapure ◽  
A. Bhattacharya ◽  
Sushanta K. Mitra

This paper presents a three-dimensional numerical analysis of flow and heat transfer over plate fins in a compact heat exchanger used as a radiator in the automotive industry. The aim of this study is to predict the heat transfer and pressure drop in the radiator. FLUENT 6.1 is used for simulation. Several cases are simulated in order to investigate the coolant temperature drop, heat transfer coefficient for the coolant and the air side along with the corresponding pressure drop. It is observed that the heat transfer and pressure drop fairly agree with experimental data. It is also found that the fin temperature depends on the frontal air velocity and the coolant side heat transfer coefficient is in good agreement with classical Dittus–Boelter correlation. It is also found that the specific dissipation increases with the coolant and the air flow rates. This work can further be extended to perform optimization study for radiator design.


2011 ◽  
Vol 383-390 ◽  
pp. 6657-6662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Xiao Feng ◽  
Qi Bo Cheng ◽  
Si Jing Yu

Based on the analysis of structural characteristic superiority, the process of combustion, flue gas flow and heat transfer in the upright magnesium reducing furnace, the three dimensional mathematical model is devoloped. And numerical simulation is performed further with the commercial software FLUENT. Finally, the flow and temperature field in furnace and temperature field in reducing pot have been obtained. The results indicate that the upright magnesium reducing furnace has perfect flue gas flow field and temperature field to meet the challenge of the magnesium reducing process; the major factors that affect the magnesium reducing reaction are the low thermal conductivity of slag and the high chemical reaction heat absorption.


Author(s):  
Jinliang Yuan ◽  
Bengt Sunde´n

Recently, there has been considerable interest in the internal reforming reactions of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) using methane or natural gas via. The internal reforming and electrochemical reactions appear in the porous anode layer, and may lead to inhomogeneous temperature and gas species distributions according to the reaction kinetics. A three-dimensional calculation method has been further developed to simulate and analyze the internal reforming and the electrochemical reactions, and the effects on various transport processes in a thick anode duct. In this study, the composite duct consists of a porous anode, fuel flow duct and solid current connector. Momentum, heat transport and gas species equations have been solved by coupled source terms and variable physical properties (density, viscosity, specific heat, etc.) of the fuel gas mixture. The combined thermal boundary conditions on solid walls, mass balances (generation and consumption) associated with the various reactions and gas permeation to/from the porous electrode are applied in the analysis. Simulation results show that the internal reforming and the electrochemical reactions, and operating conditions are significant for fuel gas transport and heat transfer in the anode.


Author(s):  
Jianhu Nie ◽  
Yitung Chen ◽  
Bunsen Wong ◽  
Lloyd C. Brown

Three-dimensional liquid-gas flow with condensation during cadmium quenching process for hydrogen production was numerically simulated in order to effectively guide the design of solar decomposer and vapor quencher. The mixture model was selected for modeling the multiphase flow, and the two-equation RNG k-ε model was used to model the turbulent flow and heat transfer. Numerical results including velocity, temperature, pressure, and mole fraction distributions were obtained for different nozzle designs. Numerical results showed that flow is relatively low in the decomposer and close to the bottom and the top inlets. The maximum velocity develops in the region near the entrance of the quenching nozzle as the nozzle angle is small. As the nozzle angle is large, the maximum velocity appears in the exit tube. Temperature, pressure and cadmium vapor distributions are also directly affected by the nozzle angle.


2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Liu ◽  
Yiping Liu ◽  
Shuming Tao ◽  
Xunliang Liu ◽  
Zhi Wen

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