Method of inspecting output of fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10770739-B2
Application number	US-201816140771-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2018
Priority date	Sep 29, 2017
Publication date	Sep 8, 2020
Grant date	Sep 8, 2020

Abstract

In a method of inspecting an output of a fuel cell, an oxidation step is performed, and thereafter, a measurement step is performed. In the oxidation step, oxidation treatment is applied to an electrode catalyst contained in an anode and a cathode. After the oxidation treatment is applied to the electrode catalyst of the anode and the cathode, in the measurement step, a measurement current which is smaller than a rated current of the fuel cell is applied to the anode and the cathode to measure the output of the fuel cell.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of inspecting an output of a fuel cell, the fuel cell comprising an electrolyte membrane of solid polymer, an anode provided on one surface of the electrolyte membrane, and a cathode provided on the other surface of the electrolyte membrane,
the method comprising:
an oxidation step of applying oxidation treatment to an electrode catalyst contained in the anode and the cathode;
and
a measurement step of measuring the output of the fuel cell after the oxidation treatment is applied to the electrode catalyst, by applying a measurement current which is smaller than a rated current of the fuel cell to the anode and the cathode;
wherein in the oxidation step, a fuel qas is supplied to the anode and an oxygen-containing gas is supplied to the cathode to cause a voltage between the anode and the cathode to be not less than a reduction potential of the electrode catalyst.

2. The method of inspecting the output of the fuel cell according to claim 1 , comprising a reduction step of applying reduction treatment to the electrode catalyst before the oxidation step.

3. The method of inspecting the output of the fuel cell according to claim 2 , wherein in the reduction step, a fuel gas is supplied to the anode, an inert gas is supplied to the cathode, and a cyclic voltage is applied to the fuel cell, the cyclic voltage being increased and decreased within a predetermined range having a minimum voltage less than a reduction potential of the electrode catalyst.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Tsuge Hodaka
• Kato Takashi
• Yamada Tadaaki
• Mizuno Ayumi
• Shimomura You

Classifications

• H01M8/0488

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M8/04619 Primary

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M8/04559 Primary

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M8/1004

  characterised by membrane-electrode assemblies [MEA] (H01M8/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/04753

  of fuel cell reactants · CPC title