Numerical simulation of the performance of solid oxide fuel cell with different flow channel geometries

A three-dimensional numerical model based on the finite element method has been developed to evaluate the planar SOFC performance includinginterconnect, rectangular duct gas flow channels, gas diffusion electrodes and electrolyte layer. A single channel SOFC fuel cell is taken and electrochemical analysis is carried out on it. The results are compared with the available published experimental data obtained by other research group, and they are found in good agreement. In SOFC fuel cell the geometry of flow channel has a particular importance on properly distributing the reactants on the TPB region and thus has a significant impact on the performance. Therefore, in this paper, the geometry of the fuel cell channel is changed from rectangular to triangular and trapezoidal shapes so that the active area and other operating conditions of each cell are the same and the performances of the fuel cell are observed. The performance of the rectangular channel is better, while that of trapezoidal channel is poor compared to the rectangular channel design. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.