Numerical Analysis Of Flow Process In A Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell

Environmental protection and rational use of energy is one of the major issues of the world. With the increased pollution and energy consumption, to seek and develop high-efficiency, energy-efficient power generation technology has been imminent. A fuel cell is highly efficient, environment-friendly power generation installations. The principle of power generation is that fuel and oxidizer gas through the reaction of the chemical energy directly into electricity. Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) because of its available types of fuel, power generation efficiency attracted the attention of higher merit.MCFC research on China's drop behind the word, there are no MCFC pilot plant operation, experimental research costs are also higher. The numerical simulation of MCFC can not only save funds, but also better build theoretical basis for the building of power plants.This paper briefly discussed China's energy situation and vigorously develop the fuel cell, in particular the advantages of MCFC. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods and building model, a calculation done to simulation MCFC. Secondly, use Nernst equation to get open circuit voltage for battery (approximate equivalent battery EMF), on the theory of batteries and battery of various factors on the potential impact. The results showed that the temperature is the most important factor affect open circuit voltage batteries.Fuel cell channel gas flow will also affect the distribution of temperature, the uniform temperature field will give more evenly distributed, the higher electrode life. Hence the flow of gas is also crucial. Using commercial software FLUENT to get the establishment of anode and cathode gas channel model , the quality of conservation equation, the equation of conservation of momentum and energy conservation equation and the electrochemical reaction equation were determined.Because there have no MCFC module in FLUENT, the numerical model based on the definition of chemical reaction velocity to discuss its internal temperature fiel, gas flow fields and the distribution of current density, the speed of imported gas, water and gas, and the temperature effect on the battery were also discussed,and examine the changes of full cell voltage . The results give a certain theoretical significance to the optimal design of the battery.