Korea, Republic of

It is now well established that electrochemical systems can optimally perform only within a narrow range of temperature. Exposure to temperatures outside this range adversely affects the performance and lifetime of these systems. As a result thermal management is an essential consideration during the design and operation of electrochemical equipment and can heavily influence the success of electrochemical energy technologies. Recently significant attempts have been placed on the maturity of cooling technologies for electrochemical devices. Nonetheless the existing reviews on the subject have been primarily focused on battery cooling. Conversely heat transfer in other electrochemical systems commonly used for energy conversion and storage has not been subjected to critical reviews. To address this issue the current study gives an overview of the progress and challenges on the thermal management of different electrochemical energy devices including fuel cells electrolysers and supercapacitors. The physicochemical mechanisms of heat generation in these electrochemical devices are discussed in-depth. Physics of the heat transfer techniques currently employed for temperature control are then exposed and some directions for future studies are provided.

This study investigates the decomposition of methane using solar thermal energy as a heat source. Instead of the direct thermal decomposition of the methane at a temperature of 1200 ◦C or higher a catalyst coated with carbon black on a metal foam was used to lower the temperature and activation energy required for the reaction and to increase the yield. To supply solar heat during the reaction a reactor suitable for a solar concentrating system was developed. In this process a direct heating type reactor with quartz was initially applied and a number of problems were identified. An indirect heating type reactor with an insulated cavity and a rotating part was subsequently developed followed by a thermal barrier coating application. Methane decomposition experiments were conducted in a 40 kW solar furnace at the Korea Institute of Energy Research. Conversion rates of 96.7% and 82.6% were achieved when the methane flow rate was 20 L/min and 40 L/min respectively.

Solid-state hydrogen storage covers a broad range of materials praised for their gravimetric volumetric and kinetic properties as well as for the safety they confer compared to gaseous or liquid hydrogen storage methods. Among them AxBy intermetallics show outstanding performances notably for stationary storage applications. Elemental substitution whether on the A or B site of these alloys allows the effective tailoring of key properties such as gravimetric density equilibrium pressure hysteresis and cyclic stability for instance. In this review we present a brief overview of partial substitution in several AxBy alloys from the long-established AB5 and AB2-types to the recently attractive and extensively studied AB and AB3 alloys including the largely documented solid-solution alloy systems. We not only present classical and pioneering investigations but also report recent developments for each AxBy category. Special care is brought to the influence of composition engineering on desorption equilibrium pressure and hydrogen storage capacity. A simple overview of the AxBy operating conditions is provided hence giving a sense of the range of possible applications whether for low- or high-pressure systems.

Due to the low density of hydrogen gas under ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions the high-pressure gaseous hydrogen storage method is widely employed. With high-pressure characteristics of hydrogen storage rigorous safety precautions are required such as filling of compressed gas in a hydrogen tank to achieve reliable operational solutions. Especially for the large-sized tanks (above 150 L) safety operation of hydrogen storage should be considered. In the present study the compressed hydrogen gas behavior in a large hydrogen tank of 175 L is investigated for its filling. To validate the numerical approach used in this study numerical models for the adaptation of the gas and turbulence models are examined. Numerical parametric studies on hydrogen filling for the large hydrogen tank of 175 L are conducted to estimate the hydrogen gas behavior in the hydrogen tank under various conditions of state of charge of pressure and ambient temperature. From the parametric studies the relationship between the initial SOC pressure condition and the maximum temperature rise of hydrogen gas was shown. That is the maximum temperature rise increases as the ambient temperature decreases and the rise increases as the SOC decreases.

Hydrogen is a highly efficient and clean renewable energy source and water splitting through electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution is a most promising approach for hydrogen generation. Layered transition metal dichalcogenides-based nano-structures have recently attracted significant interest as robust and durable catalysts for hydrogen evolution. We systematically investigated the platinum (Pt) based dichalcogenides (PtS₂ PtSe₂ and PtTe₂) as highly energetic and robust hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts. PtTe₂ catalyst unveiled the rapid hydrogen evolution process with the low overpotentials of 75 and 92 mV (vs. RHE) at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² and the small Tafel slopes of 64 and 59 mV/dec in acidic and alkaline medium respectively. The fabricated PtTe₂ electrocatalyst explored a better catalytic activity than PtS₂ and PtSe₂. The density functional theory estimations explored that the observed small Gibbs free energy for H-adsorption of PtTe₂ was given the prominent role to achieve the superior electrocatalytic and excellent stability activity towards hydrogen evolution due to a smaller bandgap and the metallic nature. We believe that this work will offer a key path to use Pt based dichalcogenides for hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts.

The number of eco friendly vehicle which is using green energy such as natural gas(NG) and hydrogen(H2) is rapidly increasing in the world. Almost all of the car manufacturers are adopting the pressurizing fuel method to storage gas. The fuel storage system which can pressurize the fuel as high as possible is necessary to maximize the mileage of the vehicle. In Korea the most important issue is that makes sure of safety of the fuel storage system and several tests are performed to verify safety of the composite cylinder especially for Type 3 and Type 4. In this research an empirical study on the internal temperature change of Type 3 and Type 4 composite cylinder during filling is performed by gas cycling test equipment. In order to measure the temperature totally twelve sensors(every four sensors on the top middle and bottom) are installed in each cylinder. As a consequence large amount of compression heat is generated during rapid filling and the result temperature change in Type 4 is greater than Type 3 is confirmed depending on property of the liner material such as thermal conduction and thickness of carbon composite.

In the present study the diffusion process of hydrogen leaking from a FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) in an underground parking garage is analyzed by numerical simulations in order to assess the risk of a leakage accident. The temporal and spatial evolution of the hydrogen concentration as well as the flammable region in the parking garage was predicted numerically. The effects of the leakage flow rate and an additional ventilation fan were investigated to evaluate the ventilation performance to relieve the accumulation of the hydrogen gas. The volume of the flammable region shows a non-linear growth in time and rapidly increases eventually. The present numerical analysis can provide a physical insight and quantitative data for safety of various hydrogen applications.

In this study the spread of cryogenic liquid due to a limited period of release is investigated for the first time to clarify the unclear conventional concept regarding two release types continuous and instantaneous release. In describing instantaneous release a discharge time has been assumed to be infinitesimally small; however such an assumption is unreal because there exists a finite period of release no matter how rapid it is. If the discharge time is less than the entire time domain the instantaneous release model should be added to the continuous model from the end of the time. This combined release that consists of the initial continuous model and subsequent instantaneous model is more realistic than the instantaneous release. The physical phenomenon is governed by three parameters: the evaporation rate per unit area release time and spill quantity. Third-order perturbation solutions are obtained and compared with a numerical solution to verify the perturbation solution. For the same spill quantity the combined model that consists of continuous and subsequent instantaneous model is necessary for small release times whereas the continuous model is only required for large release times. Additionally the combined release model is necessary for a small spill quantity at a fixed release time. These two release models are clearly distinguished using the perturbation solution.

Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) are necessary to help reduce the emissions in the transportation sector which is responsible for 40% of overall greenhouse gas emissions. There are two types of ZEVs Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) Commercial Success of BEVs has been challenging thus far also due to limited range and very long charging duration. FCEVs using H2 infrastructure with SAE J2601 and J2799 standards can be consistently fuelled in a safe manner fast and resulting in a range similar to conventional vehicles. Specifically fuelling with SAE J2601 with the SAE J2799 enables FCEVs to fill with hydrogen in 3-5 minutes and to achieve a high State of Charge (SOC) resulting in 300+ mile range without exceeding the safety storage limits. Standardized H2 therefore gives an advantage to the customer over electric charging. SAE created this H2 fuelling protocol based on modelling laboratory and field tests. These SAE standards enable the first generation of commercial FCEVs and H2 stations to achieve a customer acceptable fueling similar to today's experience. This report details the advantages of hydrogen and the validation of H2 fuelling for the SAE standards.

Hydrogen used in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is the flammable gas which has wide flammable range and flame propagation speed is very fast. This fuel cell vehicle equipped with high-pressure vessel in the form of fuel to supply the high pressure hydrogen storage system needs to be checked carefully about a special safety design and exact weak point for high pressure repeated fatigue. 70 L liner and 70 MPa Type-3 vessel were tested using the equipments which can perform ambient hydraulic cycling test and burst test in the Korea Gas Safety Corporation. And it was performed to identify the internal external behaviour through the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and real leakage mode for high pressure repeated fatigue when subjected to be pressurized in vessel. 70 L liner and 70 MPa Type-3 vessel were tested using the equipments which can perform ambient hydraulic cycling test and burst test in the Korea Gas Safety Corporation. And it was performed to identify the internal external behaviour through the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and real leakage mode for high pressure repeated fatigue when subjected to be pressurized in vessel. Through this study liner of type-3 hydrogen vessel is ruptured first on cylindrical (body) part than Dome part in 8.5 MPa. Also the same Phenomena are confirmed through the Finite Element Analysis (FEA). External composite leakage mode in ambient hydraulic cycling test was occurred in different area such as the Dome Dome knuckle and cylindrical (body) parts. But cracks of inner liner for gas tight were occurred in only cylindrical (body) parts. Also in FEA results when vessel is pressurized Dome knuckle and cylindrical (body) parts is weakest among all parts because of expansion of cylindrical (body) parts.