Solid oxide fuel cells Westinghouse tubular cell

Sealless Tubular Configuration The most developed solid oxide fuel cell is the Siemens Westinghouse tubular cell. This approach results in eliminating seal problems between adjacent cells. A schematic representation of the cross section of the present Siemens Westinghouse... 

Fig. 7. Solid oxide fuel cell configurations. A Siemens-Westinghouse tubular cell B Tubular integrated interconnector concept. Similar interconnected systems exist in planar geometry C Planar SOFC designs, differing only in gas flow manifolding.

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, History, Fig. 4 Alternate geometry tubular cells investigated by Siemens Westinghouse... 

Not long after building this first model of a tubular solid-oxide fuel cell of electrolyte-supported design that was associated with large ohmic losses, Westinghouse switched to a new cathode-supported design admitting a much thinner electrolyte layer and thus much lower ohmic losses. Also, the YSZ electrolyte was used for all subsequent work. 

Figure 7.25 End view of tubular type solid oxide fuel cell produced by Siemens Westinghouse. The electrol5de and the anode are built onto the air cathode.

Unlike molten carbonates, solid oxides use a hard ceramic electrolyte instead of a liquid. That means the fuel cell can be cast into a variety of useful shapes, such as tubes. With higher temperatures, sofcs may be able to cogenerate steam at temperatures as high as i,ooo°f. The Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation has built the first advanced hybrid system, which combines a gas turbine with a tubular sofc. As of 2003, the 220 kW hybrid system has operated in California for more than 2,000 hours with a respectable 53 percent efficiency, comparable to current combined cycle gas turbines. The ultimate goal is an efficiency of 70 percent or more. 

Fig. 1.11 A fuel cell by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, based on solid oxide electrolyte. The tubular solution used here allows for efficient separation of the anode from the cathode gas (Reproduced by permission of ECS —The Electrochemical Society [7])...

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