PEMFC durability testing using heavy-duty load cycles

PEMFC is a key technology for the decarbonization of the transport sector. The use of hydrogen powered vehicles appears as most promising solution to maintain driving range and refueling time competitive to traditional combustion engine vehicles. Both aspects are of high importance for Heavy-Duty Vehicles (HDV), but the PEMFC implementation in this type of vehicles has been addressed only recently. Thereby, the main focus of development has shifted towards operation at higher voltages to increase fuel efficiency and towards durability. The PEMTASTIC project [1] aims to meet these key technical challenges for the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) by a combination of model-based MEA design and innovative materials tailored for heavy duty operation at elevated temperatures.In contrast to the automotive application, there is still a lack of harmonized load cycles for heavy-duty application. Therefore, this work will demonstrate how to select a representative mission profile and how to derive a PEMFC load cycle from this profile based on the selected vehicle characteristics and hybridization strategy (Figure 1). In this way, a HD representative cycle is defined for durability tests on stack level by a current density profile and for differential cells by a cell voltage profile. This approach enables the break-down of degradation analysis to differential cells. Most important parameters for reliable and reproducible durability characterization will be demonstrated. Furthermore, results of degradation tests for different MEAs using this HD load cycle will be presented together with in-situ and ex-situ characterization results to demonstrate the importance of such a HD representative load cycle and its impact on the different materials of the MEA components.The project PEMTASTIC (GA number: 10110143) is supported by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and its members Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe Research.