Efficient Mass Transport and Electrochemistry Coupling Scheme for Reliable Multiphysics Modeling of Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stack

A multiphysics model for a production scale planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack is important for the SOFC technology, but usually requires an unpractical amount of computing resource. The major cause for the huge computing resource requirement is identified as the need to solve the cathode O₂ transport and the associated electrochemistry. To overcome the technical obstacle, an analytical model for solving the O₂ transport and its coupling with the electrochemistry is derived. The analytical model is used to greatly reduce the numerical mesh complexity of a multiphysics model. Numerical test shows that the analytical approximation is highly accurate and stable. A multiphysics numerical modeling tool taking advantage of the analytical solution is then developed through Fluent®. The numerical efficiency and stability of this modeling tool are further demonstrated by simulating a 30-cell stack with a production scale cell size. Detailed information about the stack performance is revealed and brie y discussed. The multiphysics modeling tool can be used to guide the stack design and select the operating parameters.