Patent ID: 8374808
Filing Date: 2013-02-12
Classification: G01R,H01M,Y02E

Abstract:
1. A method for identifying a membrane failure in a fuel cell that is one of a plurality of fuel cells in a fuel cell stack, said method comprising: using a voltage monitoring circuit to perform the steps of: measuring the voltage of each fuel cell in the fuel cell stack; calculating an average cell voltage from the cell voltages of all of the fuel cells in the fuel cell stack at several sample points over a sample period; identifying a minimum cell voltage from all of the cell voltages of the fuel cells in the fuel cell stack at several sample points over the sample period; determining an absolute delta voltage value as an average of the difference between the average cell voltages of the fuel cells and the minimum cell voltage of the fuel cells for the sample period; and using the absolute delta voltage value to determine whether there is a membrane failure.