Abstract
A numerical simulation program is developed to evaluate system performance of tubular-type Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) in this study. Using simple elements' concept both for gas areas and bundle structures reduces matrix size for calculation. Diffusion effects in porous media (air electrode and fuel electrode) are formulated by gas transport theory in porous media. Activated polarization effects are treated as resistance terms in electric circuit formulation. Steam-methane reforming reaction and water gas shift reaction are considered by using Grover's equation. So it can treat several types of fuel gases such as hydrogen gas, methane gas and methane reforming gas. The simulated results of single cell (the relation between temperature, current density, fuel utilization ratio and voltage) show good agreement with experimental results of single cell. The performance of 60-cell module is simulated for hydrogen gas and reforming gas.
