Thermal management study of an electrolytic stack using computational fluid dynamics
This master’s thesis has been carried out in relation to the studies of the master’s degree in industrial engineering. The project comes from an interest in understanding how electrolyzers work to produce hydrogen and to develop a model that analyzes, by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD),...
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| Formato: | tesis de maestría |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/406910 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/406910 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Electrolytic cells Computational fluid dynamics Cèl·lules electrolítiques Dinàmica de fluids computacional Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria elèctrica |
| Resumo: | This master’s thesis has been carried out in relation to the studies of the master’s degree in industrial engineering. The project comes from an interest in understanding how electrolyzers work to produce hydrogen and to develop a model that analyzes, by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the heat management of these devices. Therefore, it will first be necessary to study the physical and chemical fundamentals of elec- trolysis and and the different types of water electrolyzers for hydrogen production that exist nowadays. In addition, since the study focuses on the use of CFD for thermal analysis, it will be explained what the physical fundamentals of computational fluid dynamics are, and how the computer programs that allow these fundamentals to be applied work. In particular, the project focuses on a SOEC type electrolyzer. In order to model these devices, it has been necessary to understand which layers of materials make up these devices, as well as the function that each of them performs in the electrolysis of water. Some of the thermodynamic and electrical properties of the different layers have been obtained as a function of temperature. Subsequently, the different SOEC configurations that currently exist have been analysed, and the geometry to be modelled has been defined. The physical-theoretical equations that allow the behaviour of these devices to be simulated have also been analyzed. These equations have been explained in detail. They have then been simplified in order to be able to apply them to the model that has been necessary to carry out the simulation of this project and, in this way, to obtain a first approximation of the thermal analysis of this type of electrolyzers. In order to check whether the modelling idea proposed is correct, a base model has first been developed to verify the correct use of the tools provided by the OpenFOAM software. In this base model, three solid regions emulating the SOEC regions have been defined. The meshing and how the simulation has been prepared has been explained, and then temperature and volt- age results have been obtained. The same concepts applied in this base model were then used for the development of the SOEC model. In this model, five regions have been defined, with the corresponding transport equations: the two bipolar plates, the membrane-electrolyte assembly, the supplied water channels and the produced hydrogen channel. Finally, points for improvement of the model have been identified and future implementations have been proposed, which could lead to more accurate results showing the real thermal be- haviour of these devices. |
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