15th Triennial World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control
  Barcelona, 21–26 July 2002 
EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS BY PULSED HYDROGEN SUPPLY IN PEM FUEL CELL SYSTEMS
Paul Rodatz*, Akinori Tsukada**, Michael Mladek*, Lino Guzzella*
* Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland
** Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland

The membrane electrode assembly of a PEM fuel cell has to be wet for the fuel cell to work efficiently. However too much water impedes the delivery of reactants and impairs the electrochemical reaction. In this paper, an arrangement is presented which uses pressure waves to remove water droplets and inert gas blankets from the fuel cell. Experiments showed good short and long term performance of the proposed configuration.
Keywords: Fuel cell, Systems Design
Session slot T-We-A05: Optimization and Control of Hybrid Powertrains/Area code 8b : Automotive Control