Proton exchange membrane fuel cell behavioral model suitable for prognostics

•Behavioral model of a PEMFC′ stack based on a static and a dynamic parts.•State of heath estimation and behavior prediction.•Updating procedure of parameters based on experimental data.•Performances evaluation thanks to actual data gathered on a young and an old stack.•Prospective: model taking into account ageing phenomena and estimating the RUL.

Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) is a discipline that enables the estimation of the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of a system and is not yet much applied to Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell PEMFC. However it could permit the definition of adequate conditions allowing extending PEMFC's too short life duration. For that purpose, a model that can reproduce the behavior of a PEMFC is needed. This paper presents a model of a PEMFC that could serve for a prognostics purpose. The model is composed of a static part and a dynamic parts that are independent. On one side, the static part is developed thanks to equations describing the physical phenomena and is based on the Butler–Volmer law. On the other side, the dynamic part is an electrical equivalency of physical phenomenon. The models are validated thanks to experimental data gathered in long term tests. For that purpose the parameters are successively updated based on characterization measurements (polarisation curves and EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy)). Then the results of the model are compared to the ageing data in order to evaluate if the model is able to reproduce the behavior of the fuel cell. The usefulness of this model for prognostics is finally discussed.

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