Investigation of Locally Resolved Current Density Distribution of Segmented PEM Fuel Cells to Detect Malfunctions

Abstract

With the aid of PCB technology, current density distribution could be achieved by measuring the local current density inside the fuel cell, which would be more precisely reflecting the local electrochemical reaction. An important application of segmented cell technology was used for in-situ error detection of the evolution of membrane leakage. From the evolution of current density distributions, starting locations of membrane leakages and their spreading could be detected. The effect of operation conditions could be found: the steeply decreased pressure and the fast cooling of the local membrane was the main reason for the degradation of the membrane. It caused large temperature gradient in different local membranes, which resulted in inhomogeneous current density distribution and mechanical strain and stress. With the aid of segmented cell, malfunction could be detected at an early stage and thereby catastrophic failure of the whole stack may be avoided.