Effects of short circuit applications on PEM fuel cell performance and degradation

Abstract

This study addresses the issue of applying high-current transients or short circuits to a PEM fuel cell for duration ranges between 1 and 1000 ms. A detailed experimental characterization of the short circuit current and voltage is carried out, and the effect of short circuits of controlled duration on improving the voltage performance of the fuel cell is studied. It is shown that an initial characterization of the fuel cell using EIS combined with equivalent Randles-type models can be used to define the optimum time window for the duration of the short circuit to be implemented to benefit from the energy gain associated with this technique. Experimentation over more than 500 h with or without the application of short circuits is also used to assess the impact of this technique in terms of degradation.