Effect of Cell Temperature on the Power Output of a PEM Fuel Cell in a Test Bed Condition

Fuel cells are one of the cleanest and efficient technologies for electricity generation with products of water and heat. Polymer Electrode Membrane (PEM) fuel cells has been widely recognized as the most promising technique for future generating devices in the automotive, distributed power generation and portable electronic applications. In recent years, research and development in fuel cells are accelerated but present cost of fuel cells is still too high for them to become feasible commercial products. The performance of PEM fuel cells is known to be influenced by many parameters, such as operating temperature, pressure and humidification of the gas streams. In order to improve fuel cell performances, it is essential to understand these parametric effects on fuel cell operation. This paper attempts to analyze the effect of cell Temperature on the output power of a PEM fuel cell.