Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme ISE

Environmental / safety output testing (WP 4)

Thomas Jungmann

Product safety and environmental impact are a key concern for new technologies. Leakage of coolant or other fuel cell effluents for example originating from decomposing products might cause an environmental impact of fuel cells. Furthermore, leakage of fuel might cause explosion hazards. Some general indications for all types of fuel cells are provided in IEC 62282-2.

In this WP generic test modules addressing environmental and safety parameters shall be defined and experimentally validated. Leak tests shall also consider the formation / accumulation of hazardous fuel and oxidant mixtures in passive regions of the stack such as the protective housing etc. and verify the design with regard to protective measures.

Besides leak testing, fuel cell stacks are a potential electric hazard. Generic test modules taking for example the hazard of electric shock or hazards related to spark formation into account will be worked out.

Details to the generic test modules for environmental / safety testing of PEM fuel cell stacks shall be defined in a workshop. The development of generic test modules will consider especially the standardized tests of IEC 62282-2 “Fuel Cell Modules”.

Objectives:

  • Definition and validation of generic test modules and application specific test programs addressing safety and environmental aspects

  • Provide guidance to assess safety and environmental impact at end of life and for lifetime testing

Application specific endurance test programs for PEM fuel cell stacks will be developed based on an initial analysis of common industry practice for the application areas.

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