Advanced Testing for Fuel Cell Reliability

Comprehensive testing and evaluation method for hydrogen fuel cell stacks that covers multiple dimensions to provide a complete and accurate assessment of stack performance. The testing includes gas leakage, activation, cycling, polarization, cathode and anode sensitivity, humidity sensitivity, pressure sensitivity, and temperature sensitivity tests.

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Method for real-time evaluation of fuel cell stack performance and aging to enable proactive aging mitigation strategies. The method involves collecting steady-state characteristic data from the fuel cell at different operating points, determining indices like activation, ohmic, and concentration losses, and using those indices to evaluate stack degradation and infer the underlying causes.

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Autonomous performance testing of high temperature methanol fuel cells to evaluate fuel cell health and optimize performance over time. The method involves using a fuel cell controller to continuously monitor operating data like voltage, current, temperature, and compare it against an initial optimal data set. If new data is better, it replaces the optimal set and re-evaluates fuel cell health. This allows the fuel cell to optimize itself over time by tracking and updating optimal parameters based on real-world operating conditions.

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A comprehensive testing platform for solid oxide fuel cells that allows simultaneous evaluation of fuel cell performance, electrochemical behavior, and catalytic activity of fuel cell materials. The platform has a modular design with separate gas distribution, reaction, and analysis units. The gas distribution unit has multiple independent gas supply paths with pressure regulators, valves, and flow meters. The reaction unit has a furnace with sections for full cell testing, electrochemical testing, and catalytic testing connected to the gas distribution. Downstream, the analysis unit has electrochemical sensors to monitor reaction products. This allows concurrent fuel cell testing, gas composition analysis, and electrochemical and catalytic performance evaluation.

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A rapid test method for evaluating the durability of medium and high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The method involves accelerated testing conditions to simulate real-world operating conditions and assess the stability of the fuel cell components under dynamic loading. The testing steps include open circuit voltage, hydrogen penetration current density, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance analysis. The accelerated testing conditions are designed to simulate dynamic fuel cell operation and accelerate corrosion mechanisms like hydrogen crossover, electrochemical corrosion, and catalyst particle detachment.

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Efficiently determining optimal operating parameters for fuel cell stacks through progressive testing instead of exhaustive testing. The method involves activating the fuel cell stack and then sequentially testing sensitivity to parameters like air metering ratio, pressure, temperature, and humidity in a defined order. After each sensitivity test, the optimized parameter values are applied to the next sensitivity test until the final optimal operating conditions are found. This progressive testing reduces the number of required test samples compared to exhaustive testing.

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A solid-state hydrogen fuel cell testing system that uses machine learning to predict fuel cell degradation and monitor performance without extensive testing. The system collects power, gas, and environment data during normal operation. It learns from this data to predict fuel cell capacity change. This allows targeted monitoring of specific cells instead of extensive testing. It also provides quantitative calibration of internal reactions using matched cells. The system determines optimal data collection frequencies based on driving tasks. It analyzes hydrogen and air supply rates to quantify electrochemical reactions.

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Method and device to estimate and visualize fuel cell stack performance degradation over time without start-stop cycling that can damage the stack. It groups stack voltage and current data by analysis cycles, calculates representative voltages for each current level, and uses those to estimate parameters for predicting voltage vs current curves. This allows estimating stack degradation without damaging starts/stops.

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A real-time, visual fuel cell catalytic evaluation system that allows direct observation and analysis of fuel cell catalyst degradation. The system includes a visualized fuel cell stack placed in an electron microscope's viewing area. Gas processing units provide hydrogen and oxygen to the stack. Temperature stabilization and data acquisition systems complete the setup. This enables real-time, visual monitoring and analysis of the fuel cell catalyst reactions as they occur, providing insights into catalyst degradation mechanisms and performance over time.

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Fuel cell system design and control method that improves overall efficiency by individually controlling each fuel cell stack's air flow to provide consistent output while preventing water buildup and catalyst degradation. The system operates multiple fuel cell stacks in parallel, but each stack has its own square wave air control signal. This generates air flow variations within each stack that discharge generated water effectively. By setting different duty ratios based on stack performance, the system provides consistent total output while avoiding water flooding and catalyst degradation.

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Fuel cell stack offline testing system that uses network connection to improve efficiency and accuracy compared to manual testing. The system involves a test platform, a vehicle-mounted T-Box, a network connection platform, and a fuel cell system controller. The network platform sends test instructions to the T-Box, which relays them to the fuel cell controller. The controller runs tests and the T-Box records stack data. The network platform analyzes the data to calculate stack performance and generate reports. This allows remote monitoring and analysis of offline tests, reducing labor, time, and errors compared to manual testing.

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A method for more efficiently predicting the remaining life of a fuel cell. The method involves controlling the fuel cell to be tested to perform a discharge operation, and during the discharge, monitoring the current and voltage in real time. Using these values along with start and end times, the remaining life of the fuel cell is predicted. This allows faster and more accurate prediction compared to durability testing of stack components. It provides an alternative method for predicting fuel cell life that is less complex and provides quicker results.

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A real-time fuel cell testing system that accurately reflects the performance of a fuel cell vehicle. The system has a fuel cell unit on the vehicle, a DC converter, an auxiliary power supply, a test module, a simulation module, a data module, and a control module. The fuel cell, DC converter, and auxiliary power supply are connected. The control module connects to all modules and coordinates real-time testing by integrating the fuel cell, converter, and auxiliary power consumption. The simulation module emulates real-world conditions. The data module collects and analyzes performance data. This allows precise, real-time fuel cell system testing that closely mimics in-vehicle operation.

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Simulation system and testing method for fuel cell durability that enables accurate fuel cell power control and durability testing without physical testing. The system uses hardware-in-the-loop simulation to model the fuel cell and surrounding systems. It allows simulating fuel cell aging and testing fuel cell durability without the limitations of physical testing. The simulation can provide accurate fuel cell target current and voltage based on real-time stack conditions. This prevents inaccurate table lookup data and allows accurate fuel cell power control as the cell ages. It also enables detecting failures within the simulation range and avoids the issues of frequent loading/unloading and hydrogen leakage in physical testing.

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A method and device to quickly determine if a fuel cell can pass durability testing without running the full test duration. The method involves activating the fuel cell, getting a current at a target point, then running it for a preset time and getting another current. By using a voltage-current-time relationship, it can quickly determine if the cell passes durability based on the initial and final currents.

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Consistency testing of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) to evaluate the performance and stability of stacks containing multiple cells. The method involves using a filter to measure the voltage changes between cells under different load conditions. The filter output is analyzed to determine if the cell voltages fluctuate within acceptable ranges. If not, it indicates inconsistencies between cells. By testing under various loads, it provides a comprehensive evaluation of stack consistency. The filter output analysis provides a repeatable and comparable metric to compare results between tests.

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Method to accurately predict the life of a fuel cell by modeling the decay of performance over time for different operating conditions. The method involves bench testing the fuel cell under multiple conditions, then running it at a specific current to calibrate performance. Fitting functions are derived for decay rate vs time under each single condition. Using those functions and the target condition, a second fitting is made for decay at the target condition. With the target cell degradation known, the second fitting is used to calculate cell life. This allows predicting fuel cell longevity under realistic conditions by dissecting the impact of individual factors.

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Predicting fuel cell performance degradation in vehicles using real-world driving data rather than lab tests. The method involves retrieving vehicle operating data over a time interval, cleaning the data, extracting the fuel cell operating data, fitting curves to predict performance decay as working time increases, and using the curves to predict future performance decay. This allows continuous, flexible, and low-cost fuel cell performance degradation analysis and prediction based on actual driving conditions.

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A testing device and method for evaluating the performance of a vehicle fuel cell system that provides more accurate and realistic results compared to existing methods. The testing setup includes a fuel cell stack, supply/exhaust module, heat dissipation module, DC/DC module, auxiliary power module, load module, and control module. The DC/DC module converts the lower fuel cell voltage to the higher vehicle voltage. The load module simulates vehicle power consumption. The setup allows testing the fuel cell system with realistic conditions and losses, including the DC/DC conversion efficiency. By testing the system under different operating points, it provides accurate net output power, efficiency, and capacity calculations.

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Estimating the durability of a fuel cell system using machine learning and transformations when there is insufficient training data. The method involves: (1) training a machine learning model using actual operating data from a first fuel cell system, (2) collecting durability test results for both the first and a second, different fuel cell system under the same operating conditions, (3) determining transformations between durability test results of the two systems using the collected data, and (4) estimating the durability of the second system using the transformations and the machine learning model's estimated durability for the first system.

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Estimating the lifetime of a fuel cell system without needing to perform a full durability test for every specific usage condition. The method involves training a machine learning model using durability test results from a base usage condition where the operating parameters degrade the fuel cell system at equal frequencies across the range. This model can then estimate durability for other usage conditions where the operating parameters degrade at unequal frequencies.

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Universal and reproducible method to diagnose aging and degradation in PEM fuel cells that enables comparability among any models of PEM fuel cells or an empirical investigation of a specific defect in an acceptable time horizon. The method involves measuring operating parameters of a fuel cell, comparing the waveform of the measurement signal to reference signals characteristic of specific errors and impairments, and determining if those errors have occurred based on common intersections between the signals. This allows automated and repeatable diagnosis of fuel cell aging without needing individual monitoring per cell type or lengthy end-of-life analysis.

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Determining optimal control parameters for fuel cell stacks to improve their service life. The method involves dividing the stack's life into test cycles, optimizing parameters for each cycle based on stack attenuation testing, and then using those optimized sets across the stack's life. By adjusting parameters at different stages, it improves stack durability at each stage.

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Comprehensive test platform for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) that enables simultaneous evaluation of SOFC battery performance, material electrochemical performance, and material catalytic performance. The platform has a gas distribution unit with a multi-flow path gas supply device, a multifunctional reaction unit with modular test modules, and an analysis and detection unit. This allows testing of SOFCs and materials under various conditions to comprehensively evaluate their performance. The multi-flow gas supply provides customizable gas mixtures. The multifunctional unit has separate test channels for SOFCs, material electrochemistry, and catalysis.

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Real-time fuel cell performance monitoring and analysis by continuously uploading test data to a cloud platform during operation. The system has a fuel cell engine, a data transmission device like a CAN card, a host computer, and a cloud platform. The fuel cell generates power and the data transmission device collects operating parameters. The host computer receives the data and sends it to the cloud for storage and analysis. This allows real-time performance statistics and monitoring over long periods without manual data transfer and processing.

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Evaluating the comprehensive performance of a fuel cell stack to accurately quantify the attenuation degree of the overall system. The method involves dividing the operating current into segments and comprehensively analyzing the average single-chip voltage at each current segment to calculate the working status of the stack. This enables objective quantification of the stack's performance at different current levels and provides an accurate measure of the overall system's attenuation.

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Accelerated testing method to evaluate the durability and longevity of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks by simulating extreme operating conditions to accelerate the degradation process and compare different SOFC materials and designs. The method involves running the SOFC stack at higher temperatures and gas flow rates than normal operating conditions to accelerate poisoning from contaminants like sulfur, chromium, carbon, and phase changes in the electrolyte. This allows faster evaluation and comparison of SOFC durability in a shorter time compared to real-world usage.

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Accelerated testing method to predict the operating life of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks under hot and cold cycling conditions. The method involves subjecting SOFC stacks to multiple hot and cold cycling tests to simulate the conditions experienced during actual operation. The voltage decay rate of the core components during constant current operation and start-up/shut-down cycles is analyzed to predict stack life. This allows predicting stack performance and durability under cycling conditions, which is important for SOFC commercialization.

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Method to objectively evaluate the durability of air-cooled polymer fuel cell stacks, which are used in transportation and other applications where water cooling is not feasible. The method involves a preparation step to stabilize the stack impedance, followed by information acquisition steps to simulate real operating conditions. The stack is cycled between hydrogen flow, constant current, and shutdown to measure performance degradation. Cells are analyzed separately to identify deterioration hotspots. By shortening the evaluation time and quantifying cell-level deterioration, this method provides a rapid and comprehensive durability assessment for air-cooled fuel cell stacks.

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Operational evaluation method for fuel cell systems that improves accuracy and enables timely adjustment of fuel cell usage. The method involves determining a judged power level for the fuel cell system, and when the system outputs that power, calculating the average voltage of the stack. If the voltage difference from the previous stack average is below a threshold, it indicates stable operation. This stack voltage evaluation improves accuracy compared to directly monitoring stack voltage, as stack voltage drops for other reasons too. By evaluating stack voltage at specific power levels, it identifies when stack life is ending.

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Efficiently detecting leaks in the hydrogen supply valve of a fuel cell system. The method involves checking for leaks in a fuel cell's hydrogen supply valve by supplying hydrogen to the valve while closed, then opening the cathode exhaust valve and running the blower to circulate oxygen. If the fuel cell stack voltage exceeds a predetermined threshold, it indicates a leaky hydrogen valve.

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Testing fuel cells to determine internal performance parameters like current density and voltage at different locations inside the cell. The method involves dividing the fuel cell into submodels along the flow channel, then calculating parameters for each submodel using environmental and electrical models. This allows extracting the internal parameter distribution within the cell.

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Automatic fuel cell performance testing method for vehicles that improves efficiency and reduces testing time compared to manual methods. The method involves using vehicle parameters like remaining charge, temperature, and hydrogen level to determine when to initiate a fuel cell performance test. The test involves gradually lowering the operating parameters until minimum values are reached. This allows automated testing without manual adjustment of vehicle state.

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Rapid method and system to quickly test the drainage capacity of fuel cell stacks. The method involves simulating extreme fuel cell operating scenarios to evaluate drainage performance. It involves connecting the stack to an electronic load, coolant circuits, and sensors, and running test programs on a controller. The scenarios include rapid load pulses to generate internal water, and emergency shutdown followed by rapid cooling to accumulate water.

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Method for predicting durability of fuel cell membrane electrode carriers to enable accurate, quick testing of fuel cell durability under real-world operating conditions. The method involves accelerated durability tests on fuel cell components like catalyst carriers, followed by curve fitting and mapping to correlate accelerated and real-world durability. This allows predicting fuel cell durability from real-world operating data.

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A test system and method to measure and analyze the distribution of polarization losses inside proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The system involves installing multi-function measurement boards on the anode and cathode sides of the fuel cell membrane. This allows simultaneous measurement of variables like temperature, humidity, pressure, current density, and high-frequency impedance at different locations within the cell. By analyzing the distribution of activation, ohmic, and mass transfer polarization losses, it provides insight into non-uniform performance phenomena and degradation mechanisms inside the cell.

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Quickly calculating the acceleration factor to determine the life of fuel cell membrane electrodes under actual vehicle conditions. The method involves comparing the durability of membrane electrodes in accelerated single working conditions versus real vehicle conditions. By measuring the thickness of the catalyst layer in membrane electrodes after both types of tests, the acceleration factor can be calculated to infer the membrane electrode life under real vehicle conditions based on accelerated test results.

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High-efficiency, high-reliability proton exchange membrane fuel cell durability analysis method that provides a faster, less resource-intensive, and more accurate way to analyze the durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells compared to traditional methods. The method involves starting the fuel cell at a specific temperature and recording its output voltage over time. By fitting a curve to the voltage vs time data, the method estimates voltage decay without actually running the cell for long durations. This allows faster, more resource-efficient durability analysis that can also be done at varying temperatures.

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Endurance test method for passenger car fuel cell systems that comprehensively evaluates performance durability and mechanical durability. The test involves running the fuel cell system under simultaneous performance and mechanical conditions. If insulation or leakage issues arise during mechanical testing, it stops and checks again when those are fixed. If performance degradation is found, it stops and checks again when insulation and leakage are fixed. This allows catching issues in both areas without redundant testing.

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Optimizing the life cycle of a fuel cell integrated system by tracking and analyzing conversion characteristics of the anode, cathode, and electrolyte during operation. By monitoring parameters like fuel medium, electron emission, ion generation, and electrolyte conductivity, the method evaluates the fuel cell's life cycle. This provides data support for accurate assessment and prolongation of fuel cell durability.

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Method for durability testing of engineering machinery fuel cells that accurately evaluates the durability and lifespan of fuel cells in construction machinery applications. The method involves designing a fuel cell durability test protocol based on the actual driving and operating conditions of construction machinery. By establishing mathematical models and minimizing error between test and actual data, it evaluates fuel cell durability under realistic construction machinery scenarios.

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Method for optimizing fuel cell performance by combining simulation and experimental testing. The method involves using simulation to model fuel cell behavior and find optimal operating conditions. It then compares simulated results to experimental data to validate the model and refine the optimization. This iterative process reduces the number of experiments needed and improves accuracy compared to relying solely on simulation or testing. The optimization involves finding the fuel cell operating state that maximizes output voltage based on factors like stoichiometry, humidity, temperature, and pressure.

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Method for evaluating the durability of a fuel cell system for vehicles using step-stress testing. The method involves clustering fuel cell operating points based on power levels and electric accessory power consumption. It then determines equivalent variable load amplitudes for basic stable power levels. This allows constructing accelerated aging conditions by stepping up and down between the clustered points. The method aims to evaluate fuel cell durability in a shorter time compared to real-world operating conditions, while also considering vehicle powertrain parameters and accessory loads.

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Automated method for predicting the life of fuel cells based on decomposition of operating conditions and selecting appropriate test data. The method involves programming an automated system that can predict fuel cell life without human intervention. It involves determining characteristic parameters of the fuel cell, importing a test condition script, and automatically selecting test data with specific flags for life calculation. This reduces complexity, minimizes operator error, and stabilizes test results compared to manual selection of data.

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A fuel cell performance evaluation apparatus that allows visualizing and quantifying water permeation inside a fuel cell stack to evaluate the water management capability of the cell. The apparatus has a unit cell with membrane electrode assembly and gas diffusion layers, connected to test units with gas and water supply. Water is supplied to one side and allowed to diffuse through the cell stack to the other side. The flow of water is measured to quantify the water permeation performance of the cell. The test units have flow paths and scales to measure water flow. The apparatus allows accurate and simple evaluation of water management in fuel cells without complex equipment.

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Simplifying and accelerating performance testing of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) to reduce time and effort needed for testing. The method involves building a performance test model for a PEMFC based on its specifications. This model is input into a testing system which uses it to generate a customized testing package for the PEMFC. The system then sends the package to the testing equipment, which performs the optimized testing instead of the standard multiple tests. This allows accurate and efficient testing of PEMFCs without the need for repeated tests at different conditions.

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High voltage testing system for fuel cells that avoids the risk of burning the fuel cell stack during testing by simulating the stack's power-on and power-off processes instead of directly connecting to the stack. The system has two high voltage power supplies, one simulating stack output and the other simulating battery output. This allows testing the high voltage components without connecting to the actual stack or battery. It also provides a way to test stack power management without requiring a full fuel cell system.

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Determining whether a vehicle's fuel cell hydrogen tanks are properly supplying fuel. It involves individually controlling tank valves to open, sensing hydrogen pressure in the supply line, and determining if the tanks opened properly based on pressure changes. If tanks fail to open, vehicle operation is adjusted to conserve fuel.

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Determining the starting state of a fuel cell system to predict potential reversible damage and initiate regeneration processes. The method involves introducing hydrogen to the anode chamber and measuring the voltage, evaluating if a threshold is reached. The starting state is determined based on whether the threshold is reached.

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Method for testing fuel cells that accurately reflects real-world vehicle performance. It separates the load power demand of the fuel cell from the total vehicle power demand. The method involves receiving the vehicle's real-time load power, preset vehicle power, and speed. Based on these inputs, it calculates the fuel cell's current demand power and battery state-of-charge. Then, it determines the target fuel cell power based on the preset demand and battery state. This allows more accurate fuel cell testing by dynamically separating the fuel cell load from the vehicle power demand.

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