A Degradation Measurement System for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells Using a Dead-Ended Passive Stack and Time-Varying Load

A degradation measurement system has been developed for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells to reveal the relationship between degradation rates and electric load variations. The system involves a dead-ended stack of 10 single cells and an electronic load device that functions as a time-varying load to each cell of the stack. Use of a stack enables the temperatures of the cells to be kept almost the same and the supplied gas conditions to be constant. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of this test system. The polarization curves of the multiple cells were simultaneously measured, and the load of each cell in the stack can be individually controlled. Therefore, this system could be applied to reduce the time and cost in measuring the degradation and lifespan of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.