Publication

Abstract

This article presents the data and the description of a fuel cell stack that failed due to gasket degradation. The fuel cell under study is a 7 cell stack. The unexpected change in several variables such as temperature, pressure and voltage indicated the possible failure of the stack. The stack was monitored over a 6 h period in which data was collected and consequently analyzed to conclude that the fuel cell stack failed due to a crossover leak on the anode inlet port located on the cathode side gasket of cell #2. This stack failure analysis revealed a series of indicators that could be used by a supervisional controller in order to initiate a shutdown procedure.

Categories

control theory, power system control.

Author keywords

polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, stack failure, gasket, indicators

Scientific reference

A.P. Husar, M. Serra and C. Kunusch. Description of gasket failure in a 7 cell PEMFC stack. Journal of Power Sources, 169(1): 85-91, 2007.