Online humidification diagnosis of a PEMFC using a static DC-DC converter

Abstract This paper deals with the online checking of the humidification of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). Indeed, drying or flooding can decrease the performance of the PEMFC and even lead to its destruction. An online humidification diagnosis can allow a real-time control. A good indicator of the membrane humidification state is its internal resistance. As known, the membrane ionic conductivity increases with the membrane water content. This resistance can be calculated at high frequency by dividing the voltage variation by the current variation. The proposed scheme makes use of measurements of current and voltage ripples coming from the association of a static DC–DC converter and the fuel cell. The experiment thus consists in computing the internal resistance in wet and dry conditions.