For the past 20 years remarkable progress has been made in PEM fuel cell materials, component design, production, and system power density improvements. However, there is still a lot to be done in the field of fuel cell system control, which makes it essential to understand the different physical phenomena within a working fuel cell and how they need to be controlled in order to improve efficiency, operating range and durability. This experimental study analyses the effects of ambient conditions, through the use of an environmental chamber, on a Horizon® H-100 20 cell stack, 22cm2 active area, open cathode, where the only active control mechanism employed is a single fan that both, cools and provides the oxygen needed for the reaction. All the other control mechanisms are disconnected and a constant dry pure hydrogen flow rate of 1.8 SLPM is supplied to the stack.

Presentado al III Iberian Symposium on Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries celebrado en Zaragoza del 27 al 30 de junio de 2011.

This work is partially fund-ed by the project of CICYT DPI2010-15274 MICINN.

Peer Reviewed