Effect of non-uniform inlet flow rate on the heat-up process of a solid oxide fuel cell unit with cross-flow configuration

This study simulates the heat-up process of a solid oxide fuel cell unit with the cross-flow configuration, and investigates the effect of the non-uniform inlet flow pattern and the non-uniform deviation on the maximum temperature gradient and preheating time. The numerical method is precise and reliable through the comparison with the analytical solution of previous literature. The results show that the effect of non-uniform inlet flow pattern on the maximum temperature gradient is obvious, and the effect in the fuel side is more obvious than that in the air side. The best choice of the inlet flow pattern is C, which the fuel side is uniform and the air side is the progressively increasing profile. Additionally, the effect of non-uniform inlet flow pattern on the preheating time can not be neglected, and this effect becomes larger when the non-uniform deviation increases. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.