PERFORMANCE OF A 10KW CLASS MOLTEN CARBONATE FUEL-CELL WITH INTERMEDIATE GAS HEADER

A 10 kW class molten carbonate fuel cell which has a new structure with an intermediate gas header has been constructed and tested. The 10 kW stack was assembled with 32 cells with electrode area of 3,600 cm2. Output of the stack was 12.8 kW at current density of 150 mA/cm2. The effects of operating temperature, fuel utilization, and oxidant utilization on the performance of the stack have been evaluated. The cell voltage increased by 1.5 mV/degrees-C with increasing operating temperature. The effect of fuel utilization on the cell voltage was larger than that of oxidant utilization. A small deviation from the mean cell voltage was observed among the cells, and the contribution of the internal cell resistances and the temperature distribution of the stack to the voltage deviation of each cell were discussed as reason of the deviation.