Patent ID: 8072224

Claim:
A method of analyzing future performance for a fuel cell stack comprising: a) generating a first polarization curve by experimentally measuring the voltage of a fuel cell stack across a current range at a first interval; b) dividing the current range into a plurality of discrete current ranges; c) obtaining an average voltage value for each discrete current range; d) fitting all average voltage values onto a line or curve, the curve being defined as a first average polarization curve; e) conducting steps a) through d) at a second interval to produce a second average polarization curve; f) comparing the first average polarization curve to the second polarization curve to measure the drop in voltage from the first interval to the second interval, wherein the voltage drop corresponds to an amount of degradation of the fuel cell stack; and g) utilizing the measured drop in voltage between the first and second polarization curves to predict the voltage values of the fuel cells at future time intervals.