Method, apparatus and article to test fuel cells

A fuel cell resistance test system, comprising:

• a contact head having a plurality of spaced electrical contacts;
• a plurality of switches, each of the switches selectively actuable to produce a short between a respective pair of adjacent ones of the electrical contacts;
• a voltage source selectively operable to produce a defined voltage;
• a processor coupled to open each of the switches, one at a time in succession, to apply the defined voltage from the voltage source successively across pairs of adjacent ones of the electrical contacts;
• and
• at least one current sensor coupled to the electrical contacts to measure a resulting current;
• and
• the processor coupled to receive signals corresponding to the magnitude of the defined voltage and the magnitude the resulting current, and configured to determine whether a short exists based on the magnitude of the defined voltage and the magnitude of the resulting current.

A method of testing fuel cell stacks, comprising:

• simultaneously coupling a plurality of spaced electrical contacts to respective portions of a fuel cell stack;
• successively applying a defined voltage between each respective pair of adjacent ones of the electrical contacts;
• successively measuring a respective current resulting from each of the applied defined voltages before reaching a steady state condition;
• and
• determining whether a short exists based on the defined voltages and the resulting currents.

A system for testing fuel cell stacks, comprising:

• a current source operable to produce a defined current;
• a contact head having plurality of pairs of electrical contacts;
• means for applying a defined current to through successive ones of the pairs of electrical contacts while grounding at least some of the others ones of the pairs of electrical contacts;
• at least one voltage sensor to measure a resulting voltage across adjacent ones of the pairs of electrical contacts;
• and
• a processor coupled to receive signals corresponding to at least one of a magnitude of the defined current and a magnitude the resulting voltage, the processor configured to determine whether a short exists based on the magnitude of the defined current and the magnitude of the resulting voltage.

A method of testing fuel cell stacks, comprising:

• simultaneously coupling a plurality of spaced pairs of electrical contacts to respective portions of a fuel cell stack;
• successively applying a defined current through each respective pair of the electrical contacts;
• measuring a respective voltage across resulting from each of the applied defined voltages across adjacent ones of the pairs of electrical contacts before reaching a steady state condition;
• and
• determining whether a short exists based on the defined currents and the resulting voltages.