Numerical study of a flat-tube high power density solid oxide fuel cell: Part II: Cell performance and stack optimization

The flat-tube high power density (HPD) solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a geometry based on a tubular type SOFC, and is being developed by Siemens Westinghouse and other international companies in Japan and Korea. It has increased power density, but still maintains the beneficial feature of secure sealing for a tubular SOFC. In this paper, the electric performance of a flat-tube HPD SOFC is studied. This paper also investigates the effects of the stack chamber number, stack shape, and other stack geometry features on the performance of the flat-tube HPD SOFC. The results show that the performance of a flat-tube HPD SOFC is better than a tubular SOFC with the same active cell surface, and that increasing the number of chambers number can improve the overall performance of a flat-tube HPD SOFC. The height of a flat-tube HPD SOFC and the thickness of the ribs do not have much effect on the performance of the cell as is expected. This study will help to design and optimize the flat-tube HPD SOFC.