Methods and apparatus for end-of-line testing of fuel cell stacks and electrolyzers

A test station for testing an electrochemical stack, said test station comprising:

• a gas supply subsystem comprising a hydrogen-containing gas supply, an inert gas supply, and an oxygen-containing gas supply;
• a cell voltage monitoring subsystem for measuring voltage across each of a first plurality of electrochemical cell assemblies;
• a controller, said controller communicatively coupled to said cell voltage monitoring subsystem and configured to control said cell voltage monitoring system, and communicatively coupled to said gas supply subsystem and configured to control supply of gases to an electrochemical stack from said gas supply subsystem;
• wherein said gas supply subsystem is configured:
• for selectively delivering unhumidified gas from said hydrogen-containing gas supply, said inert gas supply, and said oxygen-containing gas supply to a first stack supply line;
• for selectively delivering unhumidified gas from said hydrogen-containing gas supply, said inert gas supply, and said oxygen-containing gas supply to a second stack supply line:
• and
• for selectively delivering gas from said oxygen-containing gas supply to a third stack supply line.

A supervisory control and data acquisition system comprising:

• a cell voltage monitoring subsystem for measuring voltage across each of a plurality of fuel cell assemblies in a fuel cell stack, said fuel cell stack comprising an anode flow path and a cathode flow path;
• a controller communicatively coupled to said cell voltage monitoring subsystem, wherein said controller is configured:
• to cause a hydrogen-containing gas stream to flow through said anode flow path;
• to cause an inert gas stream to flow through said cathode flow path;
• to cause said cell voltage monitoring subsystem to measure a first open circuit voltage across each of said plurality of fuel cell assemblies while said hydrogen-containing gas stream and said inert gas stream are flowing through said anode and cathode flow paths, respectively;
• and
• to compare said measured first open circuit voltages with one another or with a reference voltage to identify which, if any, of said plurality of fuel cell assemblies in said fuel cell stack has a defect.