State of health estimation and remaining useful life prediction of solid oxide fuel cell stack

Relatively little work has been done in the field of remaining useful life (RUL) prediction of SOFCs. The majority of work employs stack/cell voltage as a direct link for RUL predictions. This paper proposes an integrated approach for SoH estimation based on stack's Ohmic area specific resistance (ASR). Subsequently, a drift model that describes the ASR increase over time enables accurate RUL prediction. The approach consists of three steps. Firstly, an Unscented Kalman filter, based on a lumped stack model, estimates the current ASR value. Secondly, a drift model for describing the temporal evolution in ASR is recursively identified employing the linear Kalman filter. Finally, employing the identified drift model, Monte Carlo simulation is performed to predict future time evolution in ASR and so to obtain RUL. The developed approach is validated with experimental data from a 10 kW SOFC power system. The results confirm that ASR is a viable SoH indicator for the SOFC stack.