Nondestructive testing of PEM fuel cells

Author

Claycomb, J.R. ; Brazdeikis, A. ; Le, M. ; Yarbrough, R.A. ; Gogoshin, G. ; Miller, J.H.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys. & TcSAM, Univ. of Houston, TX, USA

Volume

13

Issue

2

fYear

2003

fDate

6/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

211

Lastpage

214

Abstract

We report on electric and magnetic nondestructive testing (NDT) of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert hydrogen and oxygen gas into water, heat and useable electricity. Fuel cell membrane health can affect the cells overall performance and lifetime. We have explored several NDT techniques employing highly sensitive HTS and LTS SQUID and fluxgate magnetometers. Magnetic fields generated by electrochemical currents flowing in the fuel cell are studied in the spatial, time and frequency domain under various operating conditions. Frequency domain electric and magnetic signals are compared under extreme conditions and membrane failure.

Keywords

SQUID magnetometers; condition monitoring; failure analysis; fluxgate magnetometers; high-temperature superconductors; nondestructive testing; proton exchange membrane fuel cells; HTS; LTS; PEM fuel cells; SQUID magnetometers; electrochemical currents; fluxgate magnetometers; frequency domain; lifetime; membrane failure; membrane health; nondestructive testing; proton exchange membrane; spatial domain; time domain; Biomembranes; Electrochemical devices; Energy conversion; Frequency domain analysis; Fuel cells; Hydrogen; Nondestructive testing; Protons; Resistance heating; Water heating;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TASC.2003.813687

Filename

1211579