Highly thermal-integrated flame fuel cell module with high temperature heatpipe

Flame fuel cell (FFC) is a novel kind of fuel cell coupling rich-flame and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) together. With rich-flame as both heater and reformer, FFC is advantageous for quick start-up, simple setup and low cost. In this study, high-temperature heatpipes were introduced to a flame fuel cell module to lower the temperature gradient and improve the FFC performance. Experimental results showed that the temperature gradient along the axis of the tubular SOFC decreased from 24 K/10 mm to 14 K/10 mm due to the high heat transfer rate of the heatpipe. For a methane-rich flame at an equivalence ratio of 1.6, the power output for a single FFC increased from 1.21 W to 1.52 W at 0.6 V with a columnar heatpipe. Furthermore, by integrating an annular heatpipe and modifying the micro-tubular SOFC, a significant power of 2.0 W at 0.7 V for a single FFC was obtained.