Experimental characterisation of the heat behaviour of a PEMFC in order to monitor its degradation
Résumé
For a correct management of a PEMFC fuel cell (Proton Exchange Membrane
Fuel Cell), it is necessary to incorporate the degradation phenomenon of
performance in the control decisions, which is the reason why it is
important to be able to quantify its performance throughout its useful
life, because ignoring degradation has a direct impact on the system.
Therefore, in this work, heat produced during the reaction is proposed
as another indicator of degradation. For this purpose, experimental
results will be presented that consider the operating conditions and the
electrical and thermal energy of a PEMFC stack at two stages of its
lifetime. The relationship between the decrease in stack voltage, which
is often used as a predictive tool, and the increase in heat generated
during the reaction will be demonstrated experimentally.