Interaction phenomena of electrically coupled cells under local reactant starvation in automotive PEMFC stacks

Journal of Physics Energy, vol. 5, pp. 045011

Abstract

Abstract The local current density distribution of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) can be distorted by various error states. Differences in current density distributions (CDDs) of adjacent cells in a stack are equilibrized by in-plane currents within the sandwiched bipolar plates. Degradation stressors such as detrimental differences in local cell voltage and current density maxima can thus be generated. A novel method was therefore developed to intentionally manipulate CDD profiles by integrating local artificial starvation into only one fuel cell in an assembly. This technique is applied to automotive-sized PEMFCs single cells as well as in 20 cell short-stack to analyze such voltage and current redistribution phenomena. A drastic distortion of local cell voltage is only observed for stacks, which is explained by a supplementary simulation. The local voltage distribution of an electrically coupled fuel cell is therefore calculated by combining CDD measurements with a spatially resolved polarization curve model. The capabilities and limits of a multipoint cell voltage monitoring measurement device are discussed on this basis. The inspected correlation between these two independent online measurement techniques allows to localize such error states with considerable accuracy during operation of automotive sized PEMFC stacks.

Authors 5

1. Max Schrievers

   Esslingen University of Applied Sciences

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Sustainable Energy Engineering and Mobility (INEM), Kanalstraße 33, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, Germany

   cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG, Neue Straße 95, Kirchheim unter Teck Nabern 73230, Germany

2. Johannes Frieder Huber Aachen Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM), RWTH Aachen University, Hochschule Esslingen, Bohr 12, 52072 Aachen, Germany

   cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG, Neue Straße 95, Kirchheim unter Teck Nabern 73230, Germany

3. Jan Nicolas Schwämmlein
   Affiliation as printed

   cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG, Neue Straße 95, Kirchheim unter Teck Nabern 73230, Germany

4. Walter Theodor Czarnetzki

   Esslingen University of Applied Sciences

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Sustainable Energy Engineering and Mobility (INEM), Kanalstraße 33, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, Germany

5. Markus Hölzle

   Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg

   Affiliation as printed

   Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg (ZSW), Lise-Meitner-Straße 24, 89081 Ulm, Germany