Characteristic time of transient response of solid oxide cells (SOCs) to changes in voltage/current: from theory to applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces characteristic times to describe the transient response of solid oxide cells, linking heat and mass transfer processes to improve design and control, validated through simulations and literature comparison.

Contribution

It proposes the first concept of characteristic times for SOC transients, connecting multiple parameters to their heat and mass transfer rates.

Findings

Characteristic times effectively describe SOC transient behavior.

Validation against literature confirms the approach's accuracy.

Application examples demonstrate utility in SOC design and control.

Abstract

The intermittency of solar and wind power can be addressed by integrating them with Solid Oxide Cells (SOCs). This study delves into the transient characteristics of SOCs and their dependence on dynamic heat and mass transfer processes. Non-dimensional analysis was used to identify influential parameters, followed by a 3-D numerical simulation-based parametric analysis to examine the dynamic gaseous and thermal responses of SOCs with varying dimensions, material properties, and operating conditions. For the first time, we proposed characteristic times to describe the relationship between SOC transients and multiple parameters. These characteristic times represent the overall heat and mass transfer rats in SOCs. Their effectiveness was validated against literature and demonstrated potential in characterizing the transient characteristics of other electrochemical cells. Besides, two examples are provided to illustrate how the characteristic times facilitate SOC design and control at minimal computational cost.