On-line Measurement for Ohmic Resistance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell by Current Interruption Method

›› 2010, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (5): 843-847.

• PRODUCT ENGINEERING AND CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY • Previous Articles Next Articles

On-line Measurement for Ohmic Resistance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell by Current Interruption Method

LIU Min^1,2, WANG Jinhai², WANG Shubo², XIE Xiaofeng², ZHOU Tao¹, V. K. Mathur³

1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;
2. Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;
3. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA

Received:2010-04-06 Revised:2010-06-22 Online:2010-10-28 Published:2010-10-28
Supported by:
Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2007AA05Z150);the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50911140287, 50973055)

On-line Measurement for Ohmic Resistance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell by Current Interruption Method

刘敏^1,2, 王金海², 王树博², 谢晓峰², 周涛¹, V.K.Mathur³

1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;
2. Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;
3. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA

通讯作者: ZHOU Tao,E-mail:xiexf@tsinghua.edu.cn;zhoutao@mail.csu.edu.cn
基金资助:
Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2007AA05Z150);the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50911140287, 50973055)

Abstract

Abstract: Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is widely used in fuel cell impedance analysis. However, for ohmic resistance (R_Ω), EIS has some disadvantages such as long test period and complex data analysis with equivalent circuits. Therefore, the current interruption method is explored to measure the value of R_Ω in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) at different temperatures and current densities. It is found that R_Ω decreases as temperature increase, and decreases initially and then increases as current density increases. These results are consistent with those measured by the EIS technique. In most cases, the ohmic resistances with current interruption (R_iR) are larger than those with EIS (R_EIS), but the difference is small, in the range from-0.848% to 5.337%. The errors of R_iR at high current densities are less than those of R_EIS. Our results show that the R_iR data are reliable and easy to obtain in the measurement of ohmic resistance in DMFC.

Key words: direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), ohmic resistance, current interruption method, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), membrane resistance

摘要： Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is widely used in fuel cell impedance analysis. However, for ohmic resistance (R_Ω), EIS has some disadvantages such as long test period and complex data analysis with equivalent circuits. Therefore, the current interruption method is explored to measure the value of R_Ω in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) at different temperatures and current densities. It is found that R_Ω decreases as temperature increase, and decreases initially and then increases as current density increases. These results are consistent with those measured by the EIS technique. In most cases, the ohmic resistances with current interruption (R_iR) are larger than those with EIS (R_EIS), but the difference is small, in the range from-0.848% to 5.337%. The errors of R_iR at high current densities are less than those of R_EIS. Our results show that the R_iR data are reliable and easy to obtain in the measurement of ohmic resistance in DMFC.

关键词: direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), ohmic resistance, current interruption method, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), membrane resistance

LIU Min, WANG Jinhai, WANG Shubo, XIE Xiaofeng, ZHOU Tao, V. K. Mathur. On-line Measurement for Ohmic Resistance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell by Current Interruption Method[J]. , 2010, 18(5): 843-847.

刘敏, 王金海, 王树博, 谢晓峰, 周涛, V.K.Mathur. On-line Measurement for Ohmic Resistance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell by Current Interruption Method[J]. , 2010, 18(5): 843-847.

References

1 Xie, X.F., Fan, X.H., Fuel Cell Technology, Chemical Industry Press, Beijing, 1-5 (2004). (in Chinese).
2 Yi, B.L., Fuel Cells-Principle, Technology and Application, Chemical Industry Press, Beijing, 1-8 (2003). (in Chinese)
3 Rashidi, R., Dincer, I., Naterer, G.F., Berg, P., “Performance evaluation of direct methanol fuel cells for portable applications”, J. Power Sources, 187, 509-516 (2009).
4 Li, J.C., Xie, X.F., Guo, J.W., “Research of AC impedance of dynamic behavior of direct methanol fuel cell”, Chem. J. Chinese Universities, 29 (3), 564-568 (2008). (in Chinese)
5 Carmelo, B., Antonino, M., Giuseppe, T., “PEM fuel cell testing by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy”, Electric Power Systems Research, 79, 17-26 (2009).
6 Min, K.J., Jung, Y.W., Kwang, S., “Performance degradation study of a direct methanol fuel cell by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy”, Electrochimica Acta, 53, 447-452 (2007).
7 Lai, C.M., Lin, J.C., Hsueh, K.L., “On the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of direct methanol fuel cell”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 32, 4381-4388 (2007).
8 Cooper, K.R., Smith, M., “Electrical test methods for on-line fuel cell ohmic resistance measurement”, J. Power Sources, 160, 1088-1095 (2006).
9 Buchi, F.N., Marek, A., Scherer, G.G., “In situ membrane resistance measurements in polymer electrolyte fuel cells by fast auxiliary current pulses”, J. Electrochem. Soc., 142 (6), 1895-1901 (1995).
10 Abe, T., Shima, H., Watanabe, K., “Study of PEFCs by AC impedance, current interrupt, and dew point measurements (I) Effect of humidity in oxygen gas”, J. Electrochem. Soc., 151 (1), A101-A105 (2004).
11 Mennola, T., Mikkola, M., Noponen, M., Hottinen, T., Lund, P., “Measurement of ohmic voltage losses in individual cells of a PEMFC stack”, J. Power Sources, 112, 261-272 (2002).
12 James, L., Fuel Cell Systems Explained, Science Press, Beijing, 50-53 (2006). (in Chinese)
13 Renganathan, S., Guo, Q., Sethuraman, V.A., “Polymer electrolyte membrane resistance model”, J. Power Sources, 160, 386-397 (2006).
14 Das, S.K., Berry, K.J., “Two-cell theory to measure membrane resistance based on proton flow:Theory development and experimental validation”, J. Power Sources, 173 (2), 909-916 (2007).
15 Mueller, J.T., Urban, P.M., “Characterization of direct methanol fuel cells by ac impedance spectroscopy”, J. Power Sources, 75, 139-143 (1998).
16 Sugimoto, W., Aoyama, K., Kawaguchi, T., Murakami, Y., Takasu, Y., “Kinetics of CH₃OH oxidation on PtRu/C studied by impedance and CO stripping voltammetry”, J. Electroanalytical Chemistry, 576, 215-221 (2005).
17 Liu, Y., Xie, X.F., Shang, Y.M., “Power characteristics and fluid transfer in 40 W direct methanol fuel cell stack”, J. Power Sources, 164, 322-327 (2007).
18 Zhong, Z.Z., Chen, J.X., Peng, R.G., “Design and performance analysis of micro proton exchange membrane fuel cells”, Chin. J. Chem. Eng., 17 (2) 298-303 (2009).
19 Jung, G.B., Su, A., Tu, C.H., Lin, Y.T., Weng, F.B., Chan, S.H., “Effects of cathode flow fields on direct methanol fuel cell-simulation study”, J. Power Sources, 171, 212-217 (2007).
20 Liao, Q., Zhu, X., Zheng, X.Y., Ding, Y.D., “Visualization study on the dynamics of CO2 bubbles in anode channels and performance of a DMFC”, J. Power Sources, 171, 644-651 (2007).
21 Yang, H., Zhao, T.S., Ye, Q., “In situ visualization study of CO2 gas bubble behavior in DMFC anode flow fields”, J. Power Sources, 139, 79-90 (2005).
22 Jin, B.D., Guo, J.W., Xie, X.F., “Effect of operating condition on cathodic EIS parameters in a DMFC”, Chem. J. Chinese Universities, 29 (11), 2258-2261 (2008). (in Chinese)

On-line Measurement for Ohmic Resistance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell by Current Interruption Method

On-line Measurement for Ohmic Resistance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell by Current Interruption Method

PDF (PC)

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References

Related Articles 1

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments