Method and apparatus for inspecting direct liquid fuel cell generator, and direct liquid fuel cell generator

Abstract

The invention provides a method for inspecting a fuel cell that can simply inspect fuel cell characteristics. The method is an inspecting method for a direct methanol fuel cell generator comprising an anode electrode including an node catalyst layer, a cathode electrode including a cathode catalyst layer, and N pieces of cells having an electrolyte disposed between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, for power generation by feeding an aqueous methanol solution to the anode electrode and an oxidant gas to the cathode electrode. The fuel cell generator is inspected by measuring voltage changes of the voltage V of one electromotive unit caused by generating a current density change ΔI or −ΔI (mA/cm2) satisfying the condition of 0.2≦ΔI≦5 in a finite current density I (mA/cm2) loaded on the plural electromotive units arbitrarily connected in series in the fuel cell generator under power generation during a time interval Δt (sec) satisfying the condition of 10−5≦Δt≦0.5.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.