Monitoring a fuel cell with polymer electrolyte by comparing the behaviour patterns of an auxiliaire cell

摘要

The CO-concentration in the H2 feed stream to a PEM fuel cell stack (2) is monitored by measuring current and voltage behavior patterns from an auxiliary cell (44) attached to the end of the stack. The auxiliary cell is connected to the same oxygen and hydrogen feed manifolds (36,38) that supply the stack, and discharges through a constant load (58). Pattern recognition software compares the current and voltage patterns from the auxiliary cell to current and voltage signature determined from a reference cell similar to the auxiliary cell and operated under controlled conditions over a wide range of CO-concentrations in the H2 fuel stream.