Paper Conference

Proceedings of SimBuild Conference 2008: 3rd conference of IBPSA-USA

     

A System Level Simulation Model of SOFC Systems for Building Applications

Kwang Ho Lee, Richard K. Strand
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL

Abstract: A thermal and electrochemical model for the simulation of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) cogeneration system is developed in this study. The basic operating principle of SOFCs is briefly introduced, and the reforming process converting the fuel source into hydrogen-rich gas to be utilized for the generation of electricity is discussed as well. In addition, the modeling algorithms of electrochemical and thermal models for the simulation of SOFCs are described. Since the fuel cell stack itself is only a single component within the whole SOFC system, the modeling of the balance-of-plant (BOP) components is also performed to assess the system-level performance. Using the newly developed model, a parametric analysis is carried out to investigate the effect of specific cell operating parameters on the overall system performance. Results and discussions on the parametric analysis are also provided in this paper.
Pages: 29 - 36
Paper:
simbuild2008_TS02-2-Lee