A Study of Thermal Transient Performances of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells

Based on the conservation of energy and conservation of mass, as well as considering the mass transfer in the electrodes-electrolyte interface and its effect on Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) thermal characteristics, this paper presents a mathematical model to modify the dynamic performance of MCFC. Using the method of weighted residuals (MWR) which possesses high precision for the solution of partial differential equations, and the Matlab system function which is efficient for numerical resolution and simulation, a dynamic simulation model of MCFC is created. The results of the simulation show that the mass transfer in the electrodes-electrolyte interface notably affects Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) thermal characteristics, and there is a distribution of temperature both in the electrodes-electrolyte and in the fuel gas as well as in the oxidant gas. The temperature of electrodes-electrolyte increases and that of oxidant gas decreases with increments in the flow rate of both the fuel gas and oxidant gas.