Modified commissioning strategy to improve commissioning reliability after a longer shutdown time

摘要

System and method for improving the commissioning reliability of fuel cell systems. The method includes determining if the resistance of the membranes in a fuel cell stack is too high, where the reliability of the system startup is reduced, and if so, providing one or more remedial actions to help ensure that the commissioning becomes more reliable. In one embodiment, the system and method determine that the fuel cell membranes are too dry based on the time elapsed since the last shutdown. If the time threshold has been exceeded, using the remedial actions such as reducing the cathode air flow and turning on stack end cell heaters, a special start-up procedure is used which increases the reliability that start-up is successful.