Effect of the Temperature Distribution on the Performance of PEMFC Stacks for Fault Diagnosis

This paper presents the temperature distribution on a PEMFC stack which can be used for fault diagnosis. The effect of the temperature is considered on the performance of one single fuel cell both theoretically and experimentally. In order to validate the effect of temperature distribution, several tests were carried out with different operating conditions in one single cell. Thus, according to the variation of temperature, different parameters vary linked to the voltage losses and current density, recognized in the FC thermocouples installed in three different regions of stack FC. The results show good recognition for the considered faults in a stack PEMFC on the basis of temperature distribution.