Fuel Cell Testing

T
g
Convertingchemicalenergyinto
oelectricalenergycanbeedoneindiffferentwayss,butfor
chemicallenergystorredinvariou
usfuelslikeh
hydrogen,ellectrochemicalfuelcellssarethemo
ost
direct,an
ndhavethepotentialto
obeveryeffiicient.

herstraightfoorward.Hyd
drogen,possiblywithso
ome
Theelecttrochemistryysideoffuelcellsisrath
carbon,o
ononesideccombineswithoxygeno
ontheotherrtoproducewaterandp
possiblycarb
bon
dioxide.Thehalfreaactionsareseparatedso
othattheennergydifferencebetweenreagentsaand
ectricalenerrgy.
productsscanbeharvvestedasele

Electroch
hemicalImpedanceSpecctroscopycaanidentifyp roblemsthaatlimitafuelcellsefficiency,
byhelpin
ngtooptimizzeacell,itcandetermin
neanodicanndcathodicp
processmecchanisms.EIISis
particularlygoodformeasuringttheequivale
entseriesressistanceofffuelcells,am
majorsourceeof
powerlo
ossinalowim
mpedanced
device.Becauseofthem
modelingcap
pabilityofEISS,youcanalso
extractin
nformationo
onkineticsaandmasstraansportinth efuelcell,b
bothofwhicharecrucial
factorsto
ofuelcellpe
erformance.EISisusefu
ulinbothressearchandQ
QCapplicatio
ons.EISoffu
uel
cellsrunssintosomeofthesamelowimpedaancedeviceandsetuplimitationsth
hatalsoshow
wup
inbatteriesandsupe
ercapacitors.
WithhToyotasreecentannouncementof
theM
Mirai,thefirrstmassmarket
hydrrogencar,To
oyotaisinveestinginthis
technology.
EISissusefulinbo
othresearch
handQC
appl ications.EISSoffuelcellssrunsinto
melowimpedancedevice
someeofthesam
andssetuplimitationsthatallsoshowup
inbaatteriesandsupercapacitors.

ourtesyofIn
nsideEVs
Imageco
Gamryhaasbeenatth
heforefronttofaffordab
ble,highperfformanceEISmeasurem
mentsformo
ore
than15yyears.Wehaavebeenmaakingfloatinginstrumenntssinceourrinception.W
Weunderstaand
howdifficultthesem
measuremen
ntscanbean
nddesignouurinstrumen
ntsandproviideyouwith
h
applicatio
onnotestohelpusersm
makethemaaswellaspoossible.

Whenitccomestofue
elcells,mosstofthebasiicelectrocheemicalmeassurementsarefairlysimple.
Theexce
eptiontothissisgettingggoodEISdataaonworkinggcells/stackks,particularrlyonsystem
ms
thatoperateathighcurrents.IntheGamryySystemsseection,wed
detailseveraalwaysto
performthesetests.Oneinvolve
esasharedp
pathforACaandDCcurreentandtheotherinvolvves
isolatedA
ACandDClo
oopsthatsu
umupacrosssthefuelcelll.Inbothoffthesetests,butparticu
ularly
thefirst,itmaybead
dvisabletou
useashunt.

Readmo
oreontheGa
amrySystem
msforFuelC
CellTesting>>>