A Review of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) Dynamic Models

In this paper, state-of-the-art dynamic models for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) in the open literature are reviewed. The review also includes the transient modeling of SOFC systems with reformers. In the transients of a SOFC, three characteristic time constants are observed. One of the challenges in transient modeling is to capture these characteristic times. The first characteristic time is on the order of milliseconds and is mostly neglected, because it is too small, from the viewpoint of practical applications. The second time constant is on the order of seconds and arises mainly because of the mass-transport dynamics. The third characteristic time is on the order of minutes or hours and is dependent on the energy transport characteristics of the system. These characteristic times are extremely system-specific and, therefore, must be identified on a case-to-case basis. In this paper, the existing literature on dynamic studies are reviewed, focusing mainly on the fidelity of the model that is required to capture these time constants. The dynamic modeling of SOFC is still not as rich as the steady-state modeling. Therefore, steady-state models are also reviewed, whenever required. The utility of the dynamic models in design, control, and operation is discussed. A dynamic model from the literature is chosen for this purpose.