Assessment of Fuel Cells’ State of Health by Low-Frequency Noise Measurements

Arkadiusz Szewczyk,Kazimierz Darowicki,Janusz Smulko,Łukasz Gaweł

doi:10.3390/en14248340

Arkadiusz Szewczyk, Kazimierz Darowicki + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/en14248340

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Dec 10, 2021
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Gdańsk University of Technology

Abstract

We proposed applying low-frequency (flicker) noise in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells under selected loads to assess their state of health. The measurement set-up comprised a precise data acquisition board and was able to record the DC voltage and its random component at the output. The set-up estimated the voltage noise power spectral density at frequencies up to a few hundred mHz. We observed the evolution of the electrical parameters of selected cells of different qualities. We confirmed that flicker noise intensity varied the most (more than 10 times) and preceded changes in the impedance or a drop in the output DC voltage (less than 2 times). The data were observed for current loads (from 0.5 to 32 A) far from the permissible load. We deduce that the method can be utilised in industrial conditions to monitor the state of health of the selected cells by noise analysis. The method can be used in real-time when the flicker noise is measured within the range of a few Hz and requires a reasonable amount of averaging time to estimate its power spectral density. The presented method of flicker noise measurement has considerable potential for use in innovative ways of fuel cell quality monitoring.

Highlights

The paper is organised as follows: the applied measurement set-up is presented in detail in Section 2; the studies of the noise measurements are discussed in Section 3, and Energies 2021, 14, 8340 the conclusions are given in Section 4 to highlight the utility of the practical application of noise measurements for the state-of-health monitoring of fuel cells
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Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Fuel cells work in a stack, and the failure of any single cell has a detrimental impact on the whole pile by inducing even total breakdown [7] This issue is fundamental when we consider the expected development of power grids into a network of renewable energy sources of various characteristics, requiring continuous adaptation and varying loads. The experimental studies proposed in this manuscript are focussed on the issues of noise measurements in a working fuel cell stack to monitor fuel cell state of health in industrial conditions. Our experimental studies imply that noise is more receptive to any slight changes within the cells than other electrical parameters, such as impedance, or generated DC voltage This conclusion is crucial for preventing accelerated wear-out of FCs (e.g., induced by overheating). The paper is organised as follows: the applied measurement set-up is presented in detail in Section 2; the studies of the noise measurements are discussed in Section 3, and Energies 2021, 14, 8340 the conclusions are given in Section 4 to highlight the utility of the practical application of noise measurements for the state-of-health monitoring of fuel cells

Measurement Set-Up

Discussion

Low-Frequency

Voltage time series

It should be noted thatthe thevalues

Conclusions