Method for regenerating carbon monoxide poisoning in high temperature PEM fuel cells, and fuel cell installation

Abstract

HT-PEM fuel cells that are constantly operated at high temperatures are less sensitive to CO contamination than PEM fuel cells that are operated at normal temperatures. It is nevertheless advantageous to regenerate possible CO contamination caused by the starting of the fuel cell. To achieve this, the HT-PEM fuel cell is operated in pulse mode for a predetermined period during the warm-up phase or at operating temperature. This permits the regeneration of the electrodes of the fuel cells, which have CO deposits. To carry out a regeneration method of a control and/or regulation device in a fuel-cell system having at least one fuel cell module that consists of a stack of HT-PEM fuel cells, with a control and/or regulation device for process management allocated thereto, the system is provided with a pulse device, which activates a pulse-mode operation for the fuel-cell stack, in dependence on at least one of several predeterminable parameters.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.