TY  - JOUR
AU  - Niroumand, Amir M.
AU  - Homayouni, Hooman
AU  - Goransson, Gert
AU  - Olfert, Mark
AU  - Eikerling, Michael
TI  - In-situ diagnostic tools for hydrogen transfer leak characterization in PEM fuel cell stacks part III: Manufacturing applications
JO  - Journal of power sources
VL  - 448
SN  - 0378-7753
CY  - New York, NY [u.a.]
PB  - Elsevier
M1  - FZJ-2020-00384
SP  - 227359 -
PY  - 2020
AB  - This work describes a novel diagnostic technique for detection and isolation of manufacturing defects in polymer electrolyte fuel cell stacks. Two of the main causes of early stack failure are membrane pinholes and electric shorts. Membrane pinholes result in the local hydrogen crossover from anode to cathode, which reduces fuel utilization. With the growth of the pinhole, the crossed over hydrogen exits the cathode as hydrogen emission. When this emission passes the safe lower explosion limit of 4% hydrogen in air, the stack reaches its end of life (EOL). Alternatively, a low resistive point between the anode and cathode results in current flow through the contact point and local heat generation. This could burn the membrane and result in EOL of the fuel cell stack. A diagnostic technique is proposed to detect cells in which membrane pinholes or electric short occur. The technique allows both failure mechanisms to be isolated by means of a straightforward algorithm. The detection of the failure can be used as a pass/fail criterion during fuel cell stack manufacturing, whereas the isolation of the failure modes can be used to inform suitable repair procedures to be performed on the failed stacks.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000509632300047
DO  - DOI:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2019.227359
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/872919
ER  -