A method for the early detection of membrane failures of fuel cell stacks and component defects of a fuel cell system

摘要

A system and method for determining a possible failure of membranes in the fuel cells of a fuel cell stack. The method includes monitoring the stack current density and the minimum cell voltage of the fuel cells in the stack. If both the minimum cell voltage and the stack current density are below predetermined values, then the method multiplies minimum cell voltage and stack current density scaling factors to provide a membrane failure factor. If the membrane failure factor is greater than a threshold, then an indication of a possible membrane failure occurs.