ARTICLE:

• STUDY ON FREEZING PHENOMENA IN PEM FUEL CELL BLOW FREEZING  download article

Y. Tabe
Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

H. Nakamiya
Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

K. Kikuta
Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

T. Chikahisa
Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

F. Kagami
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Yokosuka, Japan

K. Yoshizawa
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Yokosuka, Japan

ABSTRACT

In polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) at low temperature, the freezing of product water induces the extreme deterioration of cell performance. In this study, several measurements have been conducted to obtain the fundamental understanding for the freezing phenomenon in PEMFC. It was confirmed from the experimental results that the characteristics of start-up below freezing are related to the amount of product water and the rise in cell temperature by reaction. Next, we succeeded in visualizing the freezing behavior in PEMFC by infrared thermography. The freezing behavior can be captured as the 2-dimentional propagating behavior of high temperature region caused by heat of solidification in PEMFC using infrared thermography, and this method is highly effective for investigation of freezing phenomena in PEMFC. This measurement shows that the ice formation from super-cooled product water occurs and the formation propagates over the cathode plane during low temperature operation in PEMFC. It was also showed from the impedance measurements that the reaction resistance significantly increases during the drop in cell voltage as compared with the membrane resistance. This indicates that the performance deterioration below freezing is mainly caused by the decrease in effective reaction area and the increase in gas transfer resistance due to ice formation.

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