Analysis of a Fuel Starvation Phenomenon of a PEM Fuel Cell

This paper presents the characteristics of a PEM fuel cell, especially a fuel (hydrogen and oxygen) starvation problem. This phenomenon is an original demonstration in the domain of fuel cell research. Naturally, a fuel cell power source is always connected with a power electronic converter (power conditioning circuit) to boost a low dc voltage to a higher utility level. Therefore, to present fuel cell characteristics, a fuel cell power conditioning circuit (classical boost converter) is designed and implemented in the GREEN/INPL laboratory. The studied PEM fuel cell is 500 W, 40 A, around 13 V, designed and manufactured by the ZSW Company. Experimental results authenticate the fuel cell characteristics when the fuel cell power source is operated with a power electronic converter at a switching frequency of 25 kHz. The high switching frequency and significant step load (fuel starvation effect) to the fuel cell voltage and current are clearly illustrated.