Effect of different control strategies on rapid cold start-up of a 30-cell proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack. (8th September 2021) - Hu, Kefeng
Abstract: Many places experience extreme temperatures below −30 °C, which is a great challenge for the fuel cell vehicle (FCV). The aim of this study is to optimize the strategy to achieve rapid cold start-up of the 30-cell stack at different temperature conditions. The test shows that the stack rapidly starts within 30 s at an ambient temperature of −20 °C. Turning on the coolant at −25 °C show stability of the cell voltage at both ends due to the end-plate heating, however, voltage of intermediate cells fluctuates sharply, and successful start-up is completed after 60 s. The cold start strategy changes to load-voltage cooperative control mode when the ambient temperature reduced to −30 °C, the voltage of multiple cells in the middle of the stack fluctuate more drastic, and start-up takes 113 s. The performance and consistency of the stack did not decay after 20 cold start-up experiments, which indicates that our control strategies effectively avoided irreversible damage to the stack caused by freeze-thaw process. Highlights: The rapid start-up of the 30-cell metal plate fuel cell stack at different temperature conditions. The control strategies effectively avoided irreversible damage to the stack caused by freeze-thaw process. The performance and consistency did not decay after a 20 cold start-up experiments.