3D simulation on the current path in planar SOFCs

Numerical calculation for the property of the planar SOFCs was carried out using 3D model. In addition to the usual thermo-fluid analyses, the electric current flow in the cell components was calculated precisely. The calculation of the electric current flow in the cell components and the calculations of chemical and thermo-fluid phenomena were carried out in a consecutive repetition, and, thus the results of the both calculations were correlated each other, i.e. fully connected model. This new model analyses made it possible to simulate the diagonal electric current in the electrolyte, and, in addition, the effects of the geometry of the cell components on the cell performance was considered perfectly in the calculation. From the analyses, it was made clear that if there is a large distribution of the electromotive force in the single-cell, the diagonal flow of the electric current appears in the electrolyte. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.