Cell integrated multi-junction thermocouple array for solid oxide fuel cell temperature sensing: N+1 architecture

Understanding the cell temperature distribution of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks during normal operation has multifaceted advantages in performance and degradation studies. Present efforts on measuring temperature from operating SOFCs measure only the gas channel temperature and do not reveal the cell level temperature distribution, which is more important for understanding a cell's performance and its temperature-related degradation. The authors propose a cell-integrated, multi-junction thermocouple array for in-situ cell surface temperature monitoring of an operational SOFC. The proposed thermocouple array requires far fewer numbers of thermoelements than that required by sets of thermocouples for the same number of temperature sensing points. Hence, the proposed array causes lower disturbance to cell performance than thermocouples. The thermoelement array was sputter deposited on the cathode of a commercial SOFC using alumel (Ni:Al:Mn:Si - 95:2:2:1 by wt.) and chromel (Ni:Cr - 90:10 by wt.). The thermocouple array was tested in a furnace over the entire operating temperature range of a typical SOFC. The individual sensing points of the array were shown to measure temperature independently from each other with equivalent accuracy to a thermocouple. Thus, the concept of multi-junction thermocouples is experimentally validated and its stability on a porous SOFC cathode is confirmed.