Fuel cell activation method
AssigneeHonda Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsShohei Toyota, Hiromichi Yoshida, Hayato Kaji
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A voltage is applied between an anode and a cathode in a fuel cell. The voltage is increased to a predetermined upper limit, and then decreased to a predetermined lower limit. The voltage increase and decrease are repeated a predetermined number of times. The voltage is applied to the fuel cell while supplying a hydrogen-containing gas to an anode and supplying an inert gas to a cathode.
Claims8
A method for activating a fuel cell having a membrane electrode assembly sandwiched between a pair of separators, wherein the membrane electrode assembly contains an anode and a cathode with a solid polymer electrolyte membrane interposed between the anode and the cathode,
- the method comprising:
- a step of applying a voltage to the fuel cell while supplying a hydrogen-containing gas to the anode and supplying an inert gas to the cathode,
- a voltage increase step of increasing the voltage to a predetermined upper limit,
- a voltage decrease step of decreasing the voltage to a predetermined lower limit,
- a hydrogen pumping reaction step of carrying out a hydrogen pumping reaction while maintaining the voltage at the predetermined lower limit, and
- a step of repeating a cycle containing the voltage increase step, the voltage decrease step, and the hydrogen pumping reaction step two or more times.
A method for activating a fuel cell having a membrane electrode assembly sandwiched between a pair of separators, wherein the membrane electrode assembly contains an anode and a cathode with a solid polymer electrolyte membrane interposed therebetween,
- the method comprising:
- a step of applying a voltage to the fuel cell while supplying a hydrogen-containing gas to the anode and supplying an inert gas to the cathode,
- a voltage increase step of increasing the voltage to a predetermined upper limit,
- a voltage maintenance step of maintaining the voltage at the predetermined upper limit,
- a voltage decrease step of decreasing the voltage to a predetermined lower limit, and
- a step of repeating a cycle containing the voltage increase step, the voltage maintenance step, and the voltage decrease step being repeated two or more times.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.