Experimental Study on Cold Start Strategies of Fuel Cell Stack: Sensitivity Analysis, Optimization, and Boundaries

The adaptability of fuel cell vehicles in low-temperature environments remains challenging for their commercialization owing to the propensity of water within the fuel cell to freeze during a cold start, which impedes gas transmission and subsequent reactions. Consequently, the initial water content before cold start and the heat and water generated during this process are crucial for achieving a successful cold start. In this study, current- and voltage-controlled starting strategies are analyzed using a stack comprising 20 cells with an area of 285 cm 2 . Furthermore, key parameters related to shut down purging and cold start are optimized using starting time and reverse polarity cell count as optimization objectives. The optimal conditions for cold start include a current density of 0.5 A cm −2 , voltage of 0.45 V, purging time of 180 s, and stack temperature (during purging) of 60 °C. Furthermore, the ambient temperature boundary is determined as −25 °C–−30 °C for a successful cold start without auxiliary heating in the stack.