Electro-thermal impedance spectroscopy applied to an open-cathode polymer electrolyte fuel cell

JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES

卷:302

Article

Engebretsen, Erik¹  Robinson, James B.¹  Obeisun, Oluwamayowa¹  Mason, Tom¹  Finegan, Donal¹  Hinds, Gareth²  Shearing, Paul R.¹  Brett, Daniel J. L.¹ 

[1] UCL, Elect Innovat Lab, Dept Chem Engn, London WC1E 7JE, England

[2] Natl Phys Lab, Teddington TW11 0LW, Middx, England

关键词: Electro-thermal impedance spectroscopy;    Lock-in thermography;    Transfer function analysis;    Polymer electrolyte fuel cell;    Thermal imaging;    Electra-thermography;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jpowsour.2015.10.047

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The development of in-situ diagnostic techniques is critical to ensure safe and effective operation of polymer electrolyte fuel cell systems. Infrared thermal imaging is an established technique which has been extensively applied to fuel cells; however, the technique is limited to measuring surface temperatures and is prone to errors arising from emissivity variations and reflections. Here we demonstrate that electro-thermal impedance spectroscopy can be applied to enhance infrared thermal imaging and mitigate its limitations. An open-cathode polymer electrolyte fuel cell is used as a case study. The technique operates by imposing a periodic electrical stimulus to the fuel cell and measuring the consequent surface temperature response (phase and amplitude). In this way, the location of heat generation from within the component can be determined and the thermal conduction properties of the materials and structure between the point of heat generation and the point of measurement can be determined. By selectively 'locking-in' to a suitable modulation frequency, spatially resolved images of the relative amplitude between the current stimulus and temperature can be generated that provide complementary information to conventional temporal domain thermograms. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free