Developing an experimental functional map of polymer electrolyte fuel cell operation

如果不了解反应物、产物、热量和电化学电势在燃料电池内的变化，就不可能理解燃料电池的工作方式。这样做的结果是，为了获得燃料电池的最佳性能，我们不能把它看作是一个简单的电气设备，有一个积极的和消极的终端：我们需要能够了解发生了什么事，在不同的点，燃料电池。简而言之，这个项目的目的是开发一种新的方法来成像运行中的燃料电池内发生的事情。也就是说，开发一种方法，我们可以看到燃料电池的不同部分运行得如何-无论它们运行良好，还是缺乏反应物，或者正在经历限制系统寿命的破坏性过程。在这个项目中，我们打算在NPL以前的工作基础上，Imperial和UCL将开发一种世界级的仪器，使我们能够研究运行中的燃料电池内发生的事情。我们将利用一个特殊的仪表燃料电池，这将使我们能够监测几个非常重要的参数在真实的时间。通过这种方式，我们可以监控燃料电池在正常和异常操作条件下如何在施加于其上的不同极端条件下操作。当燃料电池启动或关闭时或者当燃料电池被推动以在其性能极限下执行时（如在燃料电池为车辆供电的情况下在超车操纵期间可能预期的），发生这种极端条件的示例。这项研究的结果将用于改进燃料电池的设计。硬件将在帝国理工学院设计和制造，并在帝国理工学院和NPL进行测试。一个双极板快速原型设施将在伦敦大学学院建立，这将使我们能够实验不同的流场几何形状，以实现尽可能均匀的分布与燃料电池映射硬件测量的参数。建模将在伦敦大学学院进行，以测试通过使用不同的流场架构带来的电池性能的改善。我们已经与英国两家主要的燃料电池公司约翰逊万丰和智能能源公司进行了合作，他们有兴趣利用这项工作的仪器和结果。

It is not possible to understand the way that a fuel cell operates without understanding how reactants, products, heat and electrochemical potential varies within that fuel cell. A consequence of this is that in order to obtain the best performance out of a fuel cell we cannot treat it like a simple electrical device with a positive and negative terminal: we need to be able to understand what is happening at different points within that fuel cell. Put simply, the purpose of this project is to develop a new way to image what is happening within an operating fuel cell. That is, to develop a way in which we can see how well the different parts of the fuel cell is operating - whether they are operating well, or starved of reactants, or undergoing damaging processes which will limit the longevity of the system.In this programme we intend to build on previous work at NPL, Imperial and UCL to develop a world-class instrument to allow us to study what is happening within an operating fuel cell. We will utilise a specially instrumented fuel cell which will allow us to monitor several very important parameters in real time. In this way we can monitor how the fuel cell operates under the different extreme conditions imposed on it during both normal and abnormal operating conditions. Examples of such extreme conditions occur when the fuel cell is started up, or shut down or when the fuel cell is pushed to perform at the limits of its performance (as might be expected during an overtaking manoeuvre if the fuel cell were powering a vehicle). Results of this research will be utilised to improve the design of the fuel cell.The hardware will be designed and built at Imperial College, and tested at both Imperial and NPL. A bipolar plate rapid prototyping facility will be built at UCL which will allow us to experiment with different flow-field geometries in order to achieve as even as possible distribution of the parameters being measured with the fuel cell mapping hardware. Modelling will be performed at UCL in order to test improvements to the performance of the cells brought about by using different flow-field architecturesWe have engaged with two major UK fuel cell companies, Johnson Matthey and Intelligent Energy, who are interested in utilising the instrumentation and results of this work.