Voltage Distribution of Self-Humidifying Air-Cooled PEMFC

Authors

Kai-feng TAN, School of Electrical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University，Chengdu 610031, China;Clean Energy Research Center, Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore 529757, Singapore;
Wei-rong CHEN, School of Electrical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University，Chengdu 610031, China;
Ming HAN, Clean Energy Research Center, Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore 529757, Singapore;Follow
Xue-xia ZHANG, School of Electrical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University，Chengdu 610031, China;Follow

Corresponding Author

Ming HAN(minghan@tp.edu.sg);
Xue-xia ZHANG(survival_zxx@sina.com )

Abstract

In this work, the self-adaptive characteristics of self-humidifying air-cooled PEMFC stack was investigated. The performance and the unit-cell voltage distribution of the stack were measured and analyzed through the unit-cell I-V curve fitting. The operating conditions for this experimental study were set as follows: hydrogen pressure at the anode was 2 bar, the fan power used for the reactant oxygen feed and stack cooling was at 0.3 W, and the duration and time gap of water purged from hydrogen chamber were 1 s and 10 s, respectively. The experimental results showed that the self-humidifying air-cooled PEMFC stack used for this work could be in stable operation with a certain fan power, e.g., 0.3 W, at self-adaptive mode without the requirement of external control circuit. The unit voltage distribution of the air-cooled PEMFC stack was highly affected by the load current. Under the operation with higher current density, the unit-cell voltage distribution of the stack was less uniform due to the difference in the internal resistance of the unit-cells and the excessive temperature existed in the stack. Based on the data analyses, an approximate exponential relationship was found between the voltage fluctuation rate and the load current density.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

air cooled PEMFC, I-V curve, voltage distribution

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.13208/j.electrochem.180852

Publication Date

2018-12-28

Online Available Date

2018-11-02

Revised Date

2018-10-17

Received Date

2018-09-21

Recommended Citation

Kai-feng TAN, Wei-rong CHEN, Ming HAN, Xue-xia ZHANG. Voltage Distribution of Self-Humidifying Air-Cooled PEMFC[J]. Journal of Electrochemistry, 2018 , 24(6): 766-771.
DOI: 10.13208/j.electrochem.180852
Available at: https://jelectrochem.xmu.edu.cn/journal/vol24/iss6/18