Estimation of Membrane Hydration Status for Standby Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Systems by Impedance Measurement: First Results on Stack Characterization

Fuel cells have started replacing traditional lead-acid battery banks in backup systems. Although these systems are characterized by long periods of standby, they must be able to start at any instant in the shortest time. In the case of low temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems, a precise estimation of hydration status of the fuel cell during standby is important for a fast and safe startup. In this article, the measurement of the complex impedance of the fuel cell is suggested as a method to estimate the membrane hydration status. A 56-cell fuel cell stack has been symmetrically fed with air whose temperature and relative humidity were controlled, and its complex impedance was measured at different frequencies and for different values of relative humidity. After showing that the experiment was repeatable, the fuel cell stack was characterized, a power regression model was applied, and the relationship between module of impedance and relative humidity was found. The results showed that measuring the impedance of a fuel cell during standby can be a viable way for estimating the hydration status of its membrane.