156 Investigation of dead-ended anode PEM fuel cell performance under different operating conditions

Dead-ended anode proton exchange membrane fuel cell is increasingly being used in some special applications due to its need for simpler and lower cost subsystems. However, the performance of such a fuel cell is more affected by the operational parameters and conditions than the traditional proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Therefore, realizing the most effective parameters and determining their optimum values are essential. In the present study, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is used to examine the effect of operating conditions on the performance of a dead ended anode fuel cell. cell temperature, operating current densities, cathode humidity and hydrogen pressure are selected to assess their effects on the fuel cell performance. The results show that the performance enhances by increasing the cell temperature up to 60°C and the the performance enhances by increasing cathode humidity up to 50% and hydrogen pressure up to 15psi . The experimental results also show that the performance decreases by further increasing of the temperature up to 70°C and the performance decreases by further increasing of the cathode humidity up to 80% and hydrogen pressure up to 20psi and The results show that the performance always decreases by increasing of the operating current density from 300 mA.cm-2 to 500 mA.cm-2.