薄膜热电偶的开发及其在燃料电池测试的应用

The Development of Thin Film Thermocouple for Local Measurements in a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

质子交换膜燃料电池中温度、湿度会显著影响电池的工作性能。为实时监控电池内的温度响应,本文采用先进MEMS微纳加工技术,成功开发出可用于燃料电池中的微型薄膜热电偶,其厚度大约为7μm,且空间分辨率能达到流场板流道和脊背的尺度。本文将该薄膜热电偶嵌入在流场板和气体扩散层之间,在ARBIN燃料电池测试平台上测试电池的伏安特性曲线,并监测电池温度-电流的变化关系,结果发现薄膜热电偶的热响应速度非常快,可即时测量电池内部的温度,且对工作部件干扰小。测试结果表明,电池内部的电压随着工作电流的增加而降低,而温度随着工作电流的增加而增加。

The temperature and humidity in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) are extremely important to the working performances of the cell.For real-time monitoring the temperature response in the cell,we developed a micro thin film thermocouple (TFTC) using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) techniques.The thickness of the TFTC is 7μm and the resolution is smaller than the rib-channel scale.The TFTC array was placed between the flow field plate and gas diffusion layer.The volt-ampere characteristics and the relationship between temperature and current had been tested on the ARBIN fuel cell test platform.It is found that the TFTC can real-time monitor the temperature with the rapid response speed and little disturbance.With the increase of the current,the voltage in the cell decreases and the temperature increases.