Fuel cell CO sensor

The CO concentration in the H2 feed stream to a PEM fuel cell stack (2) is monitored by measuring current and/or voltage behavior patterns from a PEM-probe (41) communicating with the reformate feed stream. Pattern recognition software may be used to compare the current and voltage patterns from the...

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Main Authors WEISBROD, KIRK, NEUTZLER, JAY KEVIN, GUTOWSKI, STANLEY, BORUP, RODNEY LYNN, GROT, STEPHEN ANDREAS, MELTSER, MARK ALEXANDER
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
French
German
Published 28.04.1999
Edition6
Subjects
BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
ELECTRICITY
INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
MEASURING
PHYSICS
PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSIONOF CHEMICAL INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
TESTING
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Summary:The CO concentration in the H2 feed stream to a PEM fuel cell stack (2) is monitored by measuring current and/or voltage behavior patterns from a PEM-probe (41) communicating with the reformate feed stream. Pattern recognition software may be used to compare the current and voltage patterns from the PEM-probe to current and voltage telltale outputs determined from a reference cell similar to the PEM-probe and operated under controlled conditions over a wide range of CO concentrations in the H2 fuel stream. A CO sensor includes the PEM-probe, an electrical discharge circuit (D) for discharging the PEM-probe to monitor the CO concentration, and an electrical purging circuit (P) to intermittently raise the anode potential of the PEM-probe's anode to at least about 0.8 V (RHE) to electrochemically oxidize any CO adsorbed on the probe's anode catalyst.
Bibliography:Application Number: EP19980202995