Novel diagnostic tools and techniques for monitoring and control of SOFC stacks - understanding mechanical and structural change

大韩民国在部署和扩大固体氧化物燃料电池(SOFC)技术方面拥有世界领先的专业知识。英国在支持SOFC材料和器件的科学和工程方面拥有世界级的专业知识。HK Oil和其他公司的大规模试验表明，韩国正在开发的阳极支撑SOFC电堆在稳态运行条件下的耐久性不令人满意，而且耐热循环能力较差。这反映了这样一个事实，即扩大SOFC技术带来了(特别是)与燃料电池堆内反应物、产品和温度分布不均匀相关的额外挑战。一些稳态退化可以归因于典型的SOFC问题，如阴极中毒、相分离和阳极镍粗化。然而，快速故障、自行车耐受性和运动成绩的阶梯变化最有可能与机械问题有关。因此，了解电堆中电池在不同条件下和循环过程中的热和机械环境是改进系统设计和运行机制以提供最大耐用性的关键，因为这些环境会在用于制造SOFC的陶瓷材料中表现为额外的机械和化学应变，导致退化，在极端情况下会发生故障。SOFC电堆和系统的商业开发需要降低退化速度，增加平均故障时间。为了解决这一问题，有必要既能够监控燃料电池电堆内的条件，将这些条件与健康状态相关联，然后使用该信息更好地控制系统以维持电堆寿命，或者设计受控关闭以更换组件，从而延长系统寿命。这些先进的监测技术与经过验证的预测模拟能力相结合，将允许开发新的电池和堆叠配置，以实现高耐用性和高性能。该提案旨在开发两种由英国合作伙伴首创的新诊断技术，并将它们应用于韩国合作伙伴的高级电池测试和表征。这些测量用于验证英国开发的模型，以将测量数据与退化和故障模式相关联，并将其传输给韩国合作伙伴，以提供对SOFC电堆进行实时监测和控制的潜力。这将为以最省时的方式改进和开发下一代SOFC系统提供宝贵的理解，并对英国和其他国际开发商产生更广泛的影响。该计划将支持英国和韩国合作伙伴之间的研究人员交流，英国的两个研究研讨会和韩国的一个研究研讨会将提供支持。

The Republic of Korea has world leading expertise in the deployment and scale up of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technologies. The UK has world class expertise in underpinning science and engineering of SOFC materials and devices. Large-scale trials by HK Oil and others have revealed unsatisfactory durability at steady state operating conditions in the anode supported SOFC stacks under development in Korea, as well as poor tolerance to thermal cycling. This reflects that fact that scaling up SOFC technology introduces additional challenges related (in particular) to non-uniform distribution of reactants, products and temperature within the fuel cell stack. Some steady state degradation can be attributed to classical SOFC issues of cathode poisoning, phase segregation and anode Ni coarsening. However, rapid failure, cycling intolerance and step changes in performance are most likely associated with mechanical issues. Understanding the thermal and mechanical environment of the cells in a stack under different conditions and during cycling is therefore key to improving the design and the operating regime of the system to give maximum durability, as these can manifest as additional mechanical and chemical strains within the ceramic materials used for SOFC fabrication, resulting in degradation and in extreme cases failure. Commercial development of SOFC stacks and systems requires a reduction in degradation rate, and an increase to mean time to failure.To address this it is necessary to be both able to monitor the conditions within the fuel cell stack, relating these to state of health, and then using this information to better control the system to maintain stack life, or engineer a controlled shut down so that components can be replaced, extending system life. These advanced monitoring techniques when coupled with validated predictive simulation capability will allow new cell and stack configurations to be developed for high durability and performance.This proposal seeks to develop two novel diagnostic techniques, pioneered by UK partners, and apply them to advanced cell testing and characterisation at partners in Korea . The measurements are used to validate models developed in the UK to relate the measured data to degradation and failure modes, transferring this to Korean partners to offer the potential for real time monitoring and control of SOFC stacks. This will give valuable understanding required to refine and develop the next generation of SOFC systems in the most time efficient manner, and have wider impact on UK and other international developers. The programme will support an exchange of researchers between the UK and Korean partners, supported by two research workshops in the UK, and one in Korea.