Thermal energy management system for solid oxide fuel cells

A thermal energy management system 10 for solid oxide fuel cells includes a monolithic small cell extrusion type heat exchanger 12 coupled to an SOFC stack 14. In operation, a flow of air having a selected temperature is passed through the heat exchanger cells 18 and thermal energy flowing into and out of said SOFC stack 14 is managed primarily by radiation coupling between said SOFC stack 14 and said heat exchanger 12. The system 10 further provides management of the temperature distribution around the SOFC 14 to meet outer skin temperature design targets and to control the inlet gas temperatures for the SOFC 14. The system 10 provides a compact, efficient method for SOFC thermal energy management particularly well suited for transportation applications.