Long-term tests duration reduction for PEMFC μ-CHP application

E Pahon,S Morando,R Petrone,M.-C Péra,D Hissel,N Yousfi-Steiner,S Jemei,R Gouriveau,D Chamagne,P Moçotéguy,N Zerhouni

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.06.222

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are extremely promising devices. Nevertheless some technological constraints concerning system durability and reliability costs, still limit their large-scale production. In this framework, lifetime prediction and durability enhancement studies are mainly concerned. To solve this issue, methods based on Prognostic and Health Management (PHM) are developed. It is worth noting that these methods usually require to establish a consistent database concerning the system ageing referring to specific mission profiles. To this purpose, long-term tests are commonly performed. Among different applications, this paper will focus on two micro-cogeneration (μ-CHP) durability tests, based on the same load demand. The first test is realized in 1000 h while the second one is reduced to 500 h resulting in a compressed profile. We observed that the respective global voltage degradation rates are similar. Consequently a reflection is proposed to support accelerated tests protocol development.

Highlights

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) appears nowadays to be a promising energy device to face energy transition challenges
New approaches based on prognostic and health management (PHM) methods [1e3] are introduced to evaluate the remaining useful life (RUL)
An example of RUL prediction is given in Refs. [4e6], where the performance of prediction of an echo state networks is analyzed on the voltage degradation

Summary

Introduction

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) appears nowadays to be a promising energy device to face energy transition challenges. Authors reported the main stress factors influencing the PEMFC ageing that are commonly exploited to accelerate the degradation mechanisms From this analysis, it results that high temperature condition is a common stress factor. The ageing effects induced by a real load profile are underlined Their impact on system durability is analyzed by comparing the results obtained by compressing the reference cycle profile. Current (I) Stack voltage (V) Cell voltages (Vn) Stack temperature (TSeau) Hydrogen inlet temperature (TH2 in) Hydrogen outlet temperature (TH2 out) Air inlet temperature (TAir in) Air outlet temperature (TAir out) Hydrogen inlet relative humidity (HRH2 in) Hydrogen outlet relative humidity (HRH2 out) Air inlet relative humidity (HRAir in) Air outlet relative humidity (HRAir out) Hydrogen inlet pressure (PH2 in) Hydrogen outlet pressure (PH2 out) Air inlet relative pressure (PAir in) Air outlet relative pressure (PAir out) Pressure drop (DP) Hydrogen inlet flow rate (DH2 in) Air inlet flow rate (DAir in) Water flow rate (Deau) During the test, both the polarization curves and the electrochemical impedance spectras (EIS) at low, mean and high current values are measured once a week. Beginning of the test (T0) and at the end of each subperiods

Experimental results

Results analysis and suggestions

Conclusion