Radiation Heat Transfer Quantification in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell : Effect of Geometric Parameters

Abstract

The study of the heat transfer in a SOFC based on mathematical modeling has attracted significant interest in recent years. Detailed CFD based models predict the current density, the species and the temperature distribution as well as the mass transfer within a SOFC. The inclusion of the heat radiation transfer in the analysis of the heat transfer entails a number of challenges which are not considered in the case of an analysis based only on the heat convection and the heat conduction. In the present work, the heat radiation transfer effect on the temperature distribution in a PEN-SOFC is studied. The energy dissipation due to the Joule effect is the dominant source responsible for the heat release in the studied SOFC configuration. A two-dimensional numerical model based on the finite volume method is developed. The approximation methods are used in order to examine the heat flux within each compartment of the PEN-SOFC. The studied parameters are: the gas temperature, the current density and the SOFC dimensions