Experimental study on the purge process of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack with a dead-end anode

Abstract

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack with a dead-end anode was experimentally investigated in this study. Its purge process was discussed in detail. And different purge intervals and purge time were tested to find the best purge strategy to achieve more stable voltage output. As the current density increases, the sudden changes of voltage tend to increase. The stack voltage recovery time is more than the time of voltage decreases after purging. The most existing optimization method has only one optimization object, which is to achieve maximum hydrogen utilization or stable voltage output. Actually, purge strategy for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack should be a trade-off between hydrogen utilization and voltage stability. It is possible to have different purge strategies to achieve stable voltage output of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack. A special method was used to optimize the purge strategy. First consider the stability of the voltage output, and then choose a strategy with the highest hydrogen utilization. Based on this method, an optimal purge strategy was found. The purge interval and pure time for the optimal purge strategy are 14.86 s and 0.44 s, respectively. This research can provide guidance for optimizing the purge strategy of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack with a dead-end anode.