A test station facility for research and development on fuel cell components and materials

This work describes the characteristics of a bench station designed for both the control of the operational parameters of a unitary, low temperature fuel cell and the data acquisition for performance evaluation. The controlled parameters are the current through the cell, the pressure and the flow of the reactants, and the temperature of the cell and of the gaseous reactants. The system measures the potential drop across the cell and the potential of each electrode with respect to a reference, as a function of the current, which is varied on a predetermined interval. The program plots the results and fits the experimental curve to a theoretical expression, which allows the determination of the cell resistance and the Tafel kinetic parameters of the cell reactions. The test station provides a rapid route to the work with single/half cells in the evaluation of materials and fuel cell performance. The computer controlled procedures, data acquisition, and analyses proposed here substitute with advantages time consuming manual procedures.