Condition monitoring of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells
type: CreativeWork
description: As the global demand for energy continues to grow new technologies and systems must be developed to supply the market. This includes renewable energy generation, storage and conversion systems. The primary storage technology in use today in the portable electronics, the automotive sector and to a lesser extent power networks is battery based systems. To overcome some of the limitations inherent in batteries, fuel cell based power generators and converters have been developed. Fuel cells act as electrochemical energy converters that convert a fuel source such as natural gas directly into electrical power without any secondary phases. For systems running on Hydrogen generated via renewable or natural sources, the input/output cycle becomes completely sustainable. Out of the different fuel cell types available and under development, the Proton Exchange Membrane or Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell has emerged as the technology of choice, and currently owns more than 80% of the commercial fuel cell market. This has spurred further research in the field to increase performance and life expectancy of the cell materials. A promising development in the form of High Temperature PEM (HT-PEM) fuel cells has recently emerged and addresses some of the shortcomings of the low temperature counterparts. A critical field of research is the condition monitoring strategies and technologies for the electrochemical device that ties in with the power conditioning sub-systems. This thesis presents the development of condition monitoring systems by conducting detailed studies on the fault/degradation mechanisms prevalent in the cell materials for the purpose of detection, classification and implementation of possible mitigation strategies. Specific consideration is given to the detailed analysis of the fault mechanisms in HT-PEM fuel cells that are not yet fully understood and commercialized. In particular, electrochemical equivalent circuit models and reduced order semi- empiri…
abstract: As the global demand for energy continues to grow new technologies and systems must be developed to supply the market. This includes renewable energy generation, storage and conversion systems. The primary storage technology in use today in the portable electronics, the automotive sector and to a lesser extent power networks is battery based systems. To overcome some of the limitations inherent in batteries, fuel cell based power generators and converters have been developed. Fuel cells act as electrochemical energy converters that convert a fuel source such as natural gas directly into electrical power without any secondary phases. For systems running on Hydrogen generated via renewable or natural sources, the input/output cycle becomes completely sustainable. Out of the different fuel cell types available and under development, the Proton Exchange Membrane or Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell has emerged as the technology of choice, and currently owns more than 80% of the commercial fuel cell market. This has spurred further research in the field to increase performance and life expectancy of the cell materials. A promising development in the form of High Temperature PEM (HT-PEM) fuel cells has recently emerged and addresses some of the shortcomings of the low temperature counterparts. A critical field of research is the condition monitoring strategies and technologies for the electrochemical device that ties in with the power conditioning sub-systems. This thesis presents the development of condition monitoring systems by conducting detailed studies on the fault/degradation mechanisms prevalent in the cell materials for the purpose of detection, classification and implementation of possible mitigation strategies. Specific consideration is given to the detailed analysis of the fault mechanisms in HT-PEM fuel cells that are not yet fully understood and commercialized. In particular, electrochemical equivalent circuit models and reduced order semi- empiri…
author: De Beer, Chris
language: eng
date published: 2014
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:46Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Electrical Engineering

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13264