Ageing Integration In Pemfc Stack Simulator For Onboard Prognostic Purposes In Electrical Bus Applications

GIANTLEAP aims to integrate fuel cells (FCs) systems in public transport developing a FCrange extender to support electric buses batteries (B) on load demand. In this context toevaluate the FC stack ageing and its interactions with the balance of plant (BoP) is a mandatory point. As a consequence a model-based prognostic approach for on-boardapplications has been developed. The Prognostic model is developed through the EnergeticMacroscopic Representation (EMR) tool [1]. The PEMFC stack model proposed by Boulon etal. [1] is then adapted for prognostic and health management (PHM) purposes [2], integratingthe FC ageing behavior with respect to the load demand. The impact of the different voltagelosses (activation, ohmic and mass transport) evolution with ageing are then analyzed. Consequently, the ageing laws are created and integrated into the model. Long-term test dataare used to identify the ageing parameters. Results of the simulation showed the capability ofthe model to fit the stack voltage drop induced by ageing (figure 1). Subsequently the trend ofthe voltage drop is exploited to predict the stack end-of-life. Moreover, depending on the load demand control strategy, also the variations of the FC operations and the relatedconsumptions with ageing are analyzed. Currently, the BoP components are also modelledand future works are oriented to study and integrate the impact of the FC ageing into the ancillaries operations and vice-versa.