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Fuel Cells

Using Gamry Electrochemical Instrumentation for Fuel Cell Development and Testing

Gamry Instruments has developed an electrochemical instrument that measures the impedance of an operating fuel cell.  The FC350 Fuel Cell Monitor can measure impedance on single cells or cell stacks passing hundreds or even thousands of amps!  Click here for a look at the FC350 Fuel Cell Monitor brochure.

EIS is a complex measurement and a fuel cell is a challenging sample.  Observations and comments on the measurement of EIS with the FC350 Fuel Cell Monitor can be found in a recent publication (S. K. Roy and M. E. Orazem, J. Electrochem. Soc., 154, C89 (2007)).

A publication utilizing the FC350 Fuel Cell Monitor can be found in Electrochimca Acta, 50, 99(2004).  "Effects of membrane electrode assembly preparation on the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell performance" is authored by Th. Frey and M. Linardi.

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) can identify problems that limit a fuel cell’s efficiency, it can help optimize a cell, and it can determine anodic and cathodic process mechanisms.  It is particularly good for measuring the membrane resistance in PEM fuel cells. Because of the modeling capability of EIS, you can also extract information on kinetics and mass transport in the fuel cell, both of which are crucial factors to fuel cell perforamance.  EIS is useful in both research and QC applications.  For an interesting article on the use of EIS on fuel cells, see "Characterization of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells Using AC Impedance Spectroscopy," Springer et al, J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 143, 587 (1996).  There's also a good article called "Electrical Test Methods for Evaluating Fuel Cell MEA Resistance" by Louie Scriber and Friends in FUEL CELL, page 15, February/March 2004.

Gamry’s FC350 Fuel Cell Monitor is built on the heritage of Gamry’s EIS300 Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy system. It uses an Electronic Load that is available from a number of suppliers to control both DC and AC current flow through the fuel cell.  Agilent, Kikusui, Electrochem, and TDI Dynaload Loads have been shown to work nicely with the FC350.  Other Loads may also work; systems can be configured with any constant current Electronic Load that has an analog signal input and a current monitor output.  Contact Gamry if you have questions about a specific Load.

The Load is connected to Gamry’s FC350, which applies a sine wave to the Load’s analog input and measures the resulting cell current and voltage. The frequency is swept over a wide range and a complex impedance versus frequency spectrum is plotted.  

The operating range of the system depends primarily on the Electronic Load’s characteristics.  Important load parameters include minimum and maximum cell voltages, maximum current and power ratings, and frequency response.  Impedances as low as 500 nano-ohms may be measurable!

Two operating modes are available. In the first, a constant amplitude AC current signal is superimposed on a fixed DC current.  In the second mode, the DC current is again constant, but the AC current level is servo controlled to produce a constant AC voltage at the cell.   

The voltage measurement can be made across the entire fuel cell or can be made using one or more probes inserted into a test cell.  Using probes, the impedance of conductors, electrolyte, the cathode, and the anode can be measured separately.

Because of the nature of your fuel cells and the Electronic Load you wish to use, FC350 systems are semi-custom.  Contact Gamry to discuss your needs and we'll configure a  system for you.  

 
 
 

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Last revised on Thursday, June 18, 2009