A new concept of water management diagnosis for a PEM fuel cell system

This paper presents a new diagnosis view of fuel cell water management. The faults related to water management in the fuel cell are addressed from the control point of view and their occurrence is considered as a consequence of a temperature sensor fault. To ensure proper operation of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the stack temperature and inlet pressure are controlled by a model-free control. A fault in the temperature sensor that causes an imbalance in water content in the stack is detected by a new fault detection approach in model-free context. The validation of the proposed strategy is performed on a 1.2 kW fuel cell with real time detection of temperature sensor faults, leading to water condensation in the cells or membrane dehydration. Fuel cell control and diagnosis are achieved without any requirement of an accurate system analytical model and additional sensors. However, faults can be detected in quasi static operation only and not un transient state.