Hybrid fuel cell system degradation modeling methods: A comprehensive review

Last years, the fuel cell has become well-known as an efficient and clean energy converter being a potential alternative to internal combustion engines. However, despite being very promising, the durability of those systems is still a bottleneck. Most of the time, a fuel cell is integrated in a hybrid system which considers the fuel cell stack, the battery, and the balance of plant. To keep improving the durability of such a system, diagnostic and prognostic tools are of particular importance and to implement such tools, modeling the system is a mandatory step. The purpose of this paper is to propose a critical review of the existing methods to model all elements of a hybrid fuel cell system according to operating conditions and degradation. In this review, interactions and major degradation mechanisms occurring at all components will be presented and the physics-based models, data-driven and hybrid models of these components reviewed. Finally, methods will be discussed, and advantages and drawbacks will be summarized.