Experimental study on cold start performance of PEMFC based on parallel flow channels

In this study, experimental methods are used to study the effect of assembly torque and channel size on cold start performance. Through the analysis of pressure distribution, fuel cell voltage, cathode gas inlet and outlet pressure drop and high frequency impedance, it is considered that, under the experimental conditions of this study, the fuel cell assembly torque is 2 N m, which has better cold start performance than the assembly torque of 1 N m and 4 N m. In addition, Under the condition of 2 N m assembly torque, the effect of four different flow channel sizes on the pressure distribution and cold start performance of the fuel cell was studied. It is found that when the width of channel is 0.5 mm, the depth of channel is 0.3 mm, the cold start performance is best.     

Experimental analysis of cathode flow stoichiometry on the electrical performance of a PEMFC stack

The paper describes an experimental analysis on the effect of cathode flow stoichiometry on the electrical performance of a PEMFC stack. The electrical power output of a PEMFC stack is influenced by several independent variables (factors). In order to analyse their reciprocal influence, an experimental design methodology was adopted in a previous experimental session, to determine which factors deserve particular attention. In this work, a further experimental analysis has been carried out on a very significant factor: cathode stoichiometry. Its effects on the electrical power of the PEMFC stack have been investigated. The tests were performed on a 3.5 kW_el ZSW stack using the GreenLight GEN VI FC Test Station. The stack characteristics have been obtained running a predefined loading pattern. Some parameters were kept constant during the tests: anode and cathode inlet temperature, anode and cathode inlet relative humidity, anode stoichiometry and inlet temperature of the cooling water. The experimental analysis has shown that an increase in air stoichiometry causes a significant positive effect (increment) on electric power, especially at high-current density, and up to the value of 2 stoichs. These results have been connected to the cathode water flooding, and a discussion was performed concerning the influence of air stoichiometry on electrode flooding at different levels of current density operation.     

Effect of different control strategies on rapid cold start-up of a 30-cell proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack

Many places experience extreme temperatures below −30 °C, which is a great challenge for the fuel cell vehicle (FCV). The aim of this study is to optimize the strategy to achieve rapid cold start-up of the 30-cell stack at different temperature conditions. The test shows that the stack rapidly starts within 30 s at an ambient temperature of −20 °C. Turning on the coolant at −25 °C show stability of the cell voltage at both ends due to the end-plate heating, however, voltage of intermediate cells fluctuates sharply, and successful start-up is completed after 60 s. The cold start strategy changes to load-voltage cooperative control mode when the ambient temperature reduced to −30 °C, the voltage of multiple cells in the middle of the stack fluctuate more drastic, and start-up takes 113 s. The performance and consistency of the stack did not decay after 20 cold start-up experiments, which indicates that our control strategies effectively avoided irreversible damage to the stack caused by freeze-thaw process.     

Investigation on sub-zero start-up of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell using un-assisted cold start strategy

The technical barriers for commercialization of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) are the startup ability and survivability at sub-zero temperatures. Ice formation causes cold start fail and volume change damages the cell components leading to performance decay. Many strategies are used to assist successful cold start and to reduce the performance decay. But, unassisted cold start is very crucial and needs attention. Here, an experimental protocol is reported for successful unassisted cold start using low temperature gas purging at various temperatures (-5,-8,-10,-15, and -20 °C) as well as to recover temporary performance decay. The stability of the membrane electrode assembly is also studied in freeze/thaw and sequential cold start cycles. At temperature −10 °C, there is small performance decay after the 6th freeze/thaw cycle. However, the subsequent cold start cycle shows significant performance decay after the 6th cycle. Changes in microstructures and loss of hydrophobicity in the gas diffusion layer are attributed to the performance decay in both freeze/thaw and sequential cold start cycles. The effect of cold start temperature on the performance of a PEMFC in subsequent freeze/thaw cycles is also studied. It shows that depending upon the start-up temperature, the preferential ice formation can affect the performance decay characteristics.     

Experimental investigation of start-up and transient thermal performance of pumped two-phase battery thermal management system

In this study, a pumped two-phase battery thermal management system was developed, and its start-up and transient thermal performances were experimentally evaluated. The start-up behavior was characterized, and the effects of the flow rate, heat flux, and cold-source temperature on the start-up and transient thermal performances were examined. Three start-up modes were observed: fluctuating growth, temperature overshoot, and smooth growth. The fluctuating growth start-up mode appears to be suitable for battery cooling. The transient performance was improved when the flow rate was decreased, which resulted in a quicker start-up and lower average temperature (t_avg) and maximum temperature difference (∆t_max). Reducing the flow rate from 0.99 to 0.20 L/min significantly shortened the start-up time, lowered t_avg and ∆t_max, and increased the heat transfer coefficient (α) when the steady state was reached. Increasing the heat flux initially improved and then weakened the transient performance of the pumped two-phase system. Increasing the heat flux from 1.1 to 2.8 W/cm² initially reduced the start-up time and t_avg to 350 seconds and 1.5°C, respectively, but they then significantly increased to 360 seconds and 13.5°C, respectively. The transient t_avg and ∆t_max decreased with the cold-source temperature (t_cs), while the start-up time was independent of changes in t_cs.     

Experimental investigation on the voltage uniformity for a PEMFC stack with different dynamic loading strategies

The operating life of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack is mainly decided by performances of its weakest single cell because of the “Buckets effect”, thus high voltage uniformity during a dynamic loading process is key to the stack durability. In this work, a 3-kW stack is examined experimentally on its voltage uniformity (voltage coefficient variation (Cv)) under conditions of loading from open-circuit state (0 A) to nominal current (165 A) and stack temperatures of 30 °C, 45 °C and 65 °C. Different dynamic loading strategies, namely constant loading rate strategy, decreasing loading rate strategy, and increasing loading rate (square/cube increasing loading rate) strategy, are examined and compared. Results display that during the loading process, (a) the voltage uniformity rises abruptly and goes down quickly when the loading current is small (e.g. from 0 A to 22 A), (b) the voltage uniformity under a small loading current is better than that under the open-circuit state, and (c) voltage uniformity decreases as the loading current increases from a small value to the nominal current. Comparisons of different current loading strategies show that as the stack temperature rises from 30 °C to 65 °C, the stack Cv value under the open-circuit state increases from 1.12 to 1.84 and decreases from 3.85 to 2.45 in the nominal current state. The maximum Cv for the decreasing loading rate strategy decreases from 16.25 to 9.49 and that of the constant loading rate strategy also decreases from 5.85 to 4.96. Cv values of the square current increasing loading rate strategy keep below 3.85 under conditions of the three stack temperatures and display a slight fluctuation during the whole current loading process, which indicates that the strategy can effectively make the stack being of an excellent voltage uniformity during the instantaneous response process.     

Experimental study of passive systems thermal performance

In geographical zones with a continental Mediterranean climate, the convenience of passive systems becomes doubtful, when one takes into account real thermal performance throughout the different seasons of the year. It is assumed that these systems stay shut down during summer thus avoiding undesirable solar gains. This study contributes answers to some questions about this topic by means of a comparative experimental analysis on the thermal performance of three passive systems (Massive/Trombe Wall, Direct Gain and Sunspace) and two traditional constructive systems (with/without low energy measures) for various situations (with/without night/day protection and ventilation) and climatic seasons (winter, summer and one neutral-times of spring and autumn). The measured variables are solar irradiance, outdoor temperature and indoor temperature taken from different points of the physical models. The applied procedures, technics and instruments are explained and some conclusions are drawn based on the obtained results.     

Experimental assessment of proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance degradations during emulated start-up/shut-down phases

Start-Up/Shut-Down phases in PEM Fuel Cell system has paid particular attention because of the well-identified reverse current mechanism leading to harsh corrosion environment within the Cathode Catalyst Layer. In this work, an experimental ageing test is designed to assess a comprehensive investigation of electrochemical properties degradations and thus influence on cell performances during the Start-Up phase. An Accelerated Stress Test protocol is designed to mimic and cycle the cathodic potential profile during the H₂|Air front propagation along anodic channel. A sensitivity analysis is performed on the maximum cathodic potential and the exposure time parameters. Results divulge that lowering maximum potential by a dummy load application and lowering exposure time by accelerating H₂ feeding during Start-Up phases are promising mitigation strategies. Moreover, this paper reports a promising effect by scanning the cathodic potential above 1.0 V for conditioning carbon support and optimizing cell performance at high current densities.     

A comparative study on typical 30kW PEMFC engine performances evaluation

本文基于国家级第三方汽车检测机构丰富的燃料电池整车、系统及核心零部件检测数据库,选取典型样品,进行了典型30 kW级国际主流企业商业化燃料电池发动机、国际技术背景合资企业商业化发动机和国内主流企业商业化发动机的性能对比分析及综合评价研究。研究包括极化曲线对比、电堆功率输出和效率对比、发动机功率输出和效率对比、辅助系统功率和功率因子对比、氢耗率和氢流量对比等系列研究。研究结果为相关技术发展和产业化提供了必要的借鉴。     

Numerical study on the compression effect of gas diffusion layer on PEMFC performance

A numerical method is developed to study the effect of the compression deformation of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) on the performance of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The GDL compression deformation, caused by the clamping force, plays an important role in controlling the performance of PEMFC since the compression deformation affects the contact resistance, the GDL porosity distribution, and the cross-section area of the gas channel. In the present paper, finite element method (FEM) is used to first analyze the ohmic contact resistance between the bipolar plate and the GDL, the GDL deformation, and the GDL porosity distribution. Then, finite volume method is used to analyze the transport of the reactants and products. We investigate the effects of the GDL compression deformation, the ohmic contact resistivity, the air relative humidity, and the thickness of the catalyst layer (CL) on the performance of the PEMFC. The numerical results show that the fuel cell performance decreases with increasing compression deformation if the contact resistance is negligible, but an optimal compression deformation exists if the contact resistance is considerable.     

Experimental investigations on start-up performance of static nuclear reactor thermal prototype

Nuclear power is most suited to satisfy the energy demands of future deep space exploration. In this paper, we propose a static nuclear reactor (the nuclear static thermoelectric reactor [NUSTER]), which offers the advantages of superior modularization, simplification, a fully static state, and passive operation. Based on the conceptual design of a static nuclear reactor, an electrical heating principle prototype was designed and fabricated to validate the feasibility of the fully static passive energy conversion concept. Skutterudite thermoelectric generators (TEGs) were used for static energy conversion, and potassium heat pipes were employed for passive heat transfer. The system start-up performance, restart performance, and thermoelectric performance were investigated using the thermal principle prototype. We proposed a new approach to analyze the heat pipe start-up process based on the heat transfer performance. The experimental results indicated that the restart process can be used to reduce the start-up time, because the low heat flux stage is avoided. During the start-up process, the TEGs hot side heat flux and temperature difference were gradually established, and the TEGs open circuit voltage and power density gradually increased. A maximum open circuit voltage and power density of 38.2 V and 0.92 W/cm², respectively, were achieved when the TEGs temperature difference reached 575°C. The high performance of the thermal principle prototype demonstrated the feasibility of the NUSTER conceptual design, and the experimental data can serve as a valuable reference for optimization of static reactor designs.     

Characterisation and modelling of a 5 kW PEMFC for transportation applications

In the framework of the French inter lab SPACT project (fuel cell systems for transportation applications), a 10 kW PEM fuel cell testing bench has been installed in 2002 in the national fuel cell test platform located in Belfort, France. The behaviour of a 5 kW fuel cell, fed with humidified pure hydrogen gas and compressed air, has been investigated by the Laboratory of Electrical Engineering and Systems (L2ES) in association with the French National Institute for Transport and Safety Research (INRETS).     

Effects of reactants/coolant non-uniform inflow on the cold start performance of PEMFC stack

The failure at equally distributing reactants among different channels within the stack leads to uneven reaction and gas concentration distribution in the catalyst layers, which consequently impacts the performance and durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks (PEMFCs). A three-dimensional, transient, non-isothermal cold start model for PEMFCs with parallel flow-field configuration and coolant circulation is developed in this work to investigate the effects of non-uniform distribution of reactants/coolant inflow rates on the cold start process. The results show that the effect of non-uniform inflow on ice formation amount is obvious and that on the distribution uniformity of current density is apparent over the cold start survival time. Additionally, the simulation predictions show that the non-uniform initial membrane water content distribution due to the purge procedure can significantly increase the rate of ice growth and deteriorate the uniformity of current density distribution in the membrane. It is found that high stoichiometry operating condition is favorable to cold startup, but may result in drying in the membrane at regions close to the channel inlet side. As non-uniform inflow rates issue is inevitable in actual PEMFC stack operation conditions, our results demonstrate that the initial membrane water content and cathode stoichiometry ratio need to be identified to moderate the effects of reactants/coolant inflow maldistribution and to maintain a stable cold start performance for the PEMFC stack.     

Experimental analysis of optimal performance for a 5 kW PEMFC system

This paper investigates the issue of performance optimization for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system. In PEMFC system, the system efficiency is the key parameters to evaluate the system performance which is sensitive to the air flow rate. Thus, the careful selection of the air flow rate is crucial to ensure efficient, reliable and durable operation of the PEMFC system. In this paper, the dynamic response of the system under variable air flow rate is studied in detail by means of experiments on the built 5 kW PEMFC system with 110 cells and a catalyst active area of 250 cm². The oxygen excess ratio (OER) is defined to indicate the state of oxygen supply. The experimental results show that the maximum efficiency is existed under certain net current. The OER conditions have the optimal characteristic for system efficiency. Through the optimization of system performance, the system efficiency can be increased by 12.2% on average. At the same time, the system dynamic characteristic under oxygen starvation and oxygen saturation are analyzed in detail based on the experimental data.     

Experimental analysis of the performance of the air supply system in a 120 kW polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system

For analyzing the performance of 120 kW polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system and its air supply system, an air system test bench was built, then applied on a 120 kW PEMFC system test bench composed of air supply subsystem, hydrogen supply subsystem, stack, cooling subsystem and electronic control subsystem. The strategy composed of feedforward table and Piecewise proportional integral (PI) feedback control strategy is employed to regulate the flow rate and pressure of air supply system. Firstly, the air compressor map and the mapping relationship between the speed of air compressor, opening of back-pressure valve and stack current are obtained by carrying out experiments on the PEMFC air system bench. Then, the max output performance, steady-state performance, the startup performance, the dynamic response abilities of PEMFC system are tested, respectively. During the experiments, performances under different test conditions were analyzed by comparing parameters such as voltage inconsistency, average voltage, minimum voltage, voltage range, net power of the PEMFC system, and stack power. The test results show that the air supply system can provide qualified flow rate and pressure for the PEMFC stack. The peak power of the stack is 120 kW and net power of the system is 97 kW when the current is 538 A. The response time from rated net power to idle net power is 12 s and from idle net power to rated net power is 23 s. The overshoot of average voltage and minimum voltage in the process of increasing load is both 0.01 V, which are 0.015 V and 0.02 V lower than that when the load is decreased, respectively. The dynamic response speed and stability of the PEMFC system in the process of decreasing the load are better than those in the process of increasing the load.     

PEMFC application for aviation: Experimental and numerical study of sensitivity to altitude

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells are more and more considered as energy converters for mobile applications, such as road vehicles, boats and airplanes. The feasibility of PEMFC integration to aircraft raises several difficulties such as the loss of performance due to altitude and ambient pressure decrease.     

A numerical study on the performance of PEMFC with wedge-shaped fins in the cathode channel

The gas flow field design has a significant influence on the overall performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). A single-channel PEMFC with wedge-shaped fins in the cathode channel was proposed, and the effects of fin parameters such as volume (0.5 mm³, 1.0 mm³, and 1.5 mm³), number (3, 5, and 9), and porosity of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8) on the performance of PEMFC were numerically examined based on the growth rate of power density (GRPD) and polarization curve. It was shown that wedge-shaped fins could effectively improve the PEMFC performance. With an increase in fin volume, the distributions of oxygen mass fraction in the outlet area of the cathode channel were lower, the drainage effect of the PEMFC improved, and GRPD also increased accordingly. Similar results were obtained as the number of fins increased. The GDL porosity had a greater effect than the wedge-shaped fins on the improvement in PEMFC performance, but the influence of GDL porosity weakened and the GRPD of porosity decreased as the porosity increased. This study provides an effective guideline for the optimization of the cathode channel in a PEMFC.     

超(超)临界锅炉启动系统安全性影响的定量分析

对各类型启动系统的安全性影响进行了定性对比分析,重点采集并定量计算分析了超(超)临界锅炉启动阶段的实际运行数据。定量分析结果表明采用带BCP的启动系统在安全方面有明显优势;而采用大气扩容器启动系统时,锅炉转干态前后水冷壁出口温度变化速率较大,且系统无法满足锅炉热态、极热态启动的需要。