Optimal Operating Point of a Hydrogen Fueled SOFC Models Using Al-Nour Software

Abstract

The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is considered extremely suitable for electrical power plant application. Both high temperature (HT) and intermediate temperature (IT) SOFC performances are investigated using models which are built in Aspen customer modeller. Moreover, this paper introduces a new simulation software, called Al-Nour V.1.0-2012 software application. The interface of Al-Nour V.1.0-2012 software was mainly implemented based on the educational theory of User’s Split Attention, that is; the entire software works with only one screen for all operations without any scrolling (user-friendly interface). This application reflects the fact that Al-Nour software does not require the user to have any previous training. The performance of HT-SOFC and IT-SOFC models is evaluated and compared using both software applications . The simulation results show that, the cell voltage value increases by raising the operating pressure, operating temperature, and hydrogen partial pressure. The electrical power output value from the SOFC is increased simultaneously by increasing the current density . Furthermore, the IT-SOFC has a higher cell voltage than the HT-SOFC.