|
The Impact of Operational Conditions on Degradation Mechanisms in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells
|
| |
|
|
|
Abstract: (10460 Views) |
| Performance degradation remains as one of the primary limitations for practical applications of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The performance of a PEM fuel cell stack is affected by many internal and external factors, such as fuel cell design and assembly, degradation of materials, operational conditions, and impurities or contaminants. Performance degradation is unavoidable, but the degradation rate can be minimized through a comprehensive understanding of degradation and failure mechanisms. In present work, a single PEM fuel cell is investigated. Membrane and catalyst layers (anode and cathode electrodes) are considered as the critical components that affect the degradation of the cell. The model used in this work, diagnosis degradation of those layers (platinum degradation in catalyst layers and membrane thinning and dehydration in polymer membrane) and demonstrate degradations continuously, during fuel cell life time. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of operational condition of a single PEM fuel cell on the system performance, afterwards developed model applied to a case study and results are presented. Results indicate, at high temperature and pressure, and low humidity degradation mechanisms accelerated, these faulty conditions are amongst the most critical for fuel cell durability. |
|
| Keywords: PEM fuel cell, Performance, Degradation mechanism, Modeling, Operational condition |
|
|
Full-Text [PDF 954 kb]
(1901 Downloads)
|
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Energy Planning Models
Received: 2012/10/17 | Published: 2012/04/15
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Add your comments about this article |
|
|
|
