Three-dimensional numerical simulation for various geometries of solid oxide fuel cells

A three-dimensional mathematical model of a solid oxide fuel cell is presented, which allows the computation of the local distributions of the electrical potential, temperature and concentration of the chemical species. The physics of the cell and the simplifying assumptions are presented; a sketch of the numerical procedure is also given. The numerical results obtained with hydrogen as the fuel are compared with results from other simulation codes which were developed for a planar geometry. The numerical results show the behaviour of the potential, temperature and current distributions when certain parameters (geometry of the cell, electrolyte materials, temperature in the channels) are varied. Numerical simulation is also used to obtain an optimum for some geometry parameters such as cathode thickness or rib width.