Comparison between two PEM fuel cell durability tests performed at constant current and under solicitations linked to transport mission profile

The first phase of a research program on PEMFC durability was devoted to the test of a 100W stack operated in stationary regime during 1000h. The second phase was dedicated to the test of another 100W stack Under dynamical current constraint. In this case, the load current cycle applied was computed from a standardised transportation mission profile and then adapted to the power of the investigated fuel cell. For both ageing experiments, the stack characterisations were based on polarisation curves, recorded for various stoichiometry rates, as well as on EIS measurements performed at regular time-spaced intervals throughout the ageing. Some analysis tools derived from the response surface methodology are employed to analyse and compare the results of the two durability experiments. Some numerical models are proposed for the degradation of the stack performances. They are finally used to optimise the fuel cell operating conditions versus ageing time. (c) 2007 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.