Numerical simulation on the bipolar plate of molten carbonate fuel cell

Aiming to study effect of the temperature stress and assembly of stress on molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) bipolar plate flatness, a three-dimensional finite element model was built on the basic theory of thermal elasticity. Some calculation was carried out to simulate the bipolar plate thermal strain generated in the temperature and stress fields in the course of MCFC stack sintering. The simulation results show that deformation are some concentric circles with the bipolar plate as the center and becomes concave surface in the bipolar plate, and the maximum deformation occurs in the bipolar plates of the four vertices. The deformation of bipolar plate is in the range of 0.5~2.9 mm, and the flatness is 1.5%, and the maximum deformation is within the design scope of bipolar plate flatness.