Conjugate Study on Thermal–Hydraulic Performance of Topology-Optimized Lattice-Filled Cooling Channel for Thermal Management of Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells

Kirttayoth Yeranee, Yuli Cheng and Yu Rao ()
Additional contact information
Kirttayoth Yeranee: Institute of Turbomachinery, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Yuli Cheng: Institute of Turbomachinery, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Yu Rao: Institute of Turbomachinery, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 22, 1-30

Abstract: Integrated additional cooling channels offer precise thermal management for solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), mitigating temperature gradients. This research studies the thermal–hydraulic performance of cooling channels integrated between SOFC interconnectors, including a Diamond-type triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS), a conventional topology-optimized structure, and a topology-optimized lattice-filled structure. A conjugate heat transfer analysis is employed to investigate the influences of flow rate within the range of Reynolds numbers from 300 to 5000, and the effects of coolant type, including air and liquid metals, as well as the impacts of structural material. The results demonstrate that the topology-optimized lattice-filled structure, generating high turbulence mixing, achieves superior temperature uniformity, especially at high flow rates, despite having higher thermal resistance and pressure loss than the conventional topology-optimized design. The coolant types show the largest influence on thermal–hydraulic performance, and the use of liquid gallium in the conventional optimized design obtains the best temperature uniformity, yielding differences between the maximum and minimum temperatures of less than 5 K. Moreover, the higher-thermal-conductivity material improves temperature uniformity, even at low flow rates. Overall, the optimized-baffle designs in the conventional topology-optimized model, utilizing high-conductivity coolant and structural materials, could be the most suitable for thermal management of the SOFC.

Keywords: solid-oxide fuel cell; temperature uniformity; thermal–hydraulic performance; topology optimization; triply periodic minimal surface (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/22/6001/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/22/6001/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:22:p:6001-:d:1795559

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Shen

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().