A Comprehensive Review of Solutions and Strategies for Cold Start of Automotive Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) can be a significant eco-friendly alternative power source for vehicles. However, under subfreezing conditions, cell degradation and irreversible performance decay can occur because of ice formation and repetitive thaw/freeze cycles. These problems have limited the further commercialization of PEMFC in cold weather countries. Thus, many improvements have been made to repair the freeze protection and rapid cold startup problems in PEMFC vehicles. In this paper, a comprehensive review dedicated to engineers of the recent research progress on the PEMFC cold start problems is presented. Systems and methods for fuel cell shutdown are summarized and classified into two categories: purge solution and material to avoid freezing. Regarding the system and solutions for PEMFC cold startup, different heating solutions are classified into two main groups depending on their heating sources and categorized as internal and external heating methods. This paper concludes with a detailed review of cold startup strategies based on an exhaustive survey of journal papers and patents.