Novel methods for fault diagnosis and enhancing CO tolerance in PEM fuel cells fueled with impure hydrogen

Mingkai Wang, Pucheng Pei, Yiming Xu, Peng Ren and He Wang

Applied Energy, 2024, vol. 375, issue C, No S0306261924014041

Abstract: The polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell system, fueled with impure hydrogen, stands as a promising candidate for extensive applications. However, this system faces unique challenges, notably including low efficiency due to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and more frequent occurrences of water flooding or gas starvation compared to conventional fuel cell systems. This work delves into the self-recovery effects of CO poisoning when coupled with either water flooding or gas starvation in fuel cells. Discriminative voltage behaviors are observed during water flooding at both the anode and cathode in poisoned fuel cells. The CO-poisoning mitigation phenomenon is confirmed during the fuel cell undergoes anode flooding. Our findings elucidate the interacting mechanisms of water flooding and CO poisoning in fuel cells. This research introduces an innovative approach to effectively distinguish common fault types and locations for PEM fuel cells, thereby facilitating the implementation of corresponding strategies for rapid performance recovery. Furthermore, the self-recovery mechanism inspires a novel intermittent hydrogen supply method to achieve 100 ppm CO-tolerance in PEM fuel cells without additional equipment requirements. This research offers valuable insights for those interested in fault diagnosis and CO-tolerance enhancement for impure hydrogen-fueled PEM fuel cells, expecting to improve the energy conversion efficiency and expand applications of impure hydrogen energy-based PEM fuel cell technologies.

Keywords: Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell; Fault diagnosis; Carbon monoxide poisoning; Carbon monoxide tolerance; Intermittent hydrogen supply method; Impure hydrogen energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124021

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