An integrated system of a microreformer and a carrier allowing for syngas generation from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for micro-SOFC application is discussed. The microreformer with an overall size of 12.7 mm × 12.7 mm × 1.9 mm is fabricated with micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technologies. As a catalyst, a special foam-like material made from ceria-zirconia nanoparticles doped with r...

The application of a self-organizing fuzzy proportional–integral–derivative (SOF-PID) controller to a multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) nonlinear revolute-joint robot arm is studied in this paper. The SOF controller is a learning supervisory controller, making small changes to the values of the PID gains while the system is in operation. In effect, the SOF controller replaces an experienced...

Solid oxide fuel cells are high temperature electrochemical devices for direct conversion of fuel and oxidant to electricity and heat. The high temperature and dual atmosphere creates challenges for the materials in solid oxide fuel cell stacks. In this thesis SOFC stack materials were studied and developed. SOFC stacks are assembled at room temperature, then heated up, conditioned and operated...

A novel, integral, tri-layered, proton conducting membrane SOFC was readily fabricated for simultaneous conversion of ethane at 650-700 degrees C to electrical power and ethylene with high selectivity.

The relevance of micro Laue diffraction tomography (µ-LT) to investigate heterogeneous polycrystalline materials has been studied. For this purpose, a multiphase solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrode composite made of yttria-stabilized zirconia and nickel oxide phases, with grains of about a few micrometres in size, has been analyzed. In order to calibrate the Laue data and to test the techniq...

Fuel cells are treated as flow engines driven by fluxes of chemical reagents and electrochemical mechanism of electric current generation. Analyzed are performance curves of a SOFC system, power limits and the effect of typical design and operating parameters on the cell performance. The theory combines a recent formalism worked out for chemical machines with the Faraday’s law which determines ...

This paper presents performance analysis of a fuel cell system (FCS) consisting of a thermal plasma reformer (TPR) and a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell and gas turbine (SOFC/GT) system from a system-level viewpoint. This paper also addresses the results of using greenhouse gases (CH4 and CO2) as feedstock to the system. Being non-catalytic reforming, the thermal plasma reforming technique does no...

Ammonia is being considered as a promising alternative to hydrogen fuel in solid oxide cells (SOFCs) due its stability and ease of storage transportation. This study investigates the feasibility using ammonia tubular SOFC for shipborne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The paper develops 3D model tubular-anode-supported single cell conducts numerical simulations analyze impact different operatin...

Management of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) thermal gradients is vital to limit thermal expansion mismatch and thermal stress. However, owing to harsh operation conditions of SOFCs and limited available space in stack configuration, the number of techniques available to obtain temperature distribution from the cell surface is limited. The authors previously developed and studied a thermocouple a...

The main purpose of this paper was to develop a complete dynamic model of a power generation system based on two serially connected solid oxide fuel cell stacks. The uniqueness of this study lies in a different number of fuel cells in the stacks. The model consists of the electrochemical model, mass and energy balance equations implemented in MATLAB Simulink environment. Particular attention ha...