Significance of Aspect Ratio Parameter on a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell with Rectangular, Trapezoidal, and Triangular Obstacles in the Flow Channel

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are a source of renewable and economical energy production. The present study focused on investigating the effect of changing the size of the obstacles on cell performance by placing obstacles into the flow channel and defining the aspect ratio parameter that indicates the height of the obstacle to that of the flow channel. For rectangular obstacles with the values of one, nine-tenths, seven-tenths, and a half of the aspect ratio (AR) parameter at a voltage of 0.8 V, the output power improved by 40, 18, 13.7, and 13.2% compared to the unobstructed flow channel (reference state). At the same voltage, the current density improved by 10, 9.76, and 9.64 for the values of nine-tenths, seven-tenths, and a half of the AR parameter for triangular obstacles, respectively. Further, it improved by 20.2, 19.7, and 19.3% for trapezoidal obstacles compared to the reference model. Therefore, the output power is maximized when the rectangular obstacles completely cover the flow channel.