Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Performance Model

A two-dimensional numerical model is developed to simulate nonisothermal performance of molten carbonate fuel cells. The model takes account of gas stream utilization due to electrochemical reaction, conductive heat transfer between cell hardware and gas streams, energy transfer accompanying mass addition to the bulk streams, convective heat transfer by the bulk streams, and inplane heat conduction through the cell hardware. Individual porous electrode models are used to predict the local dependence of current density on cell temperature and gas composition. Calculate results are compared with experimental data for 94 cm/sup 2/ isothermal cells with crossflow geometry for various fuel and oxidant compositions, total gas pressures, and cell temperatures. Excellent agreement is obtained. Calculated distributions of current density and cell temperature are also presented for 1 m/sup 2/ nonisothermal cells for cross-, co-, and counterflow geometries. Current density and cell temperature distributions are found to be highly coupled. Calculated temperature differences on the order of 200 K are observed across the face of a cell operating at maximum load.