Accurate PEM Fuel Cell Parameters Identification Using Whale Optimization Algorithm

Abstract

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel cells (PEMFC) are used in many engineering applications as a power source. The device has a mathematical model by which the output voltage-current (V-I) characteristics can be estimated at various operating conditions. However, this model comprises several nonlinear coupled parameters, and that makes the identification problem as challenging task. Owing to that, some advanced techniques been employed to extract the optimal constants of a PEMFC including meta-heuristic optimization algorithms. At this point, this paper deals with a novel swarm-intelligence optimization method named Whale Optimization Algorithm for the purpose of extracting the exact parameters of the PEMFC. This investigation is conducted to examine the effectiveness of the method in providing better results compared to other methods presented in the literature. A commercial PEMFC from Heliocentris with rated power = 40 W is employed to conduct a series of experiments in the laboratory. Moreover, to confirm the effectuality of the method, the results are compared with Particle-Swarm-Optimization (PSO) algorithm. The proposed method showed a significant enhancement in terms of accuracy and convergence speed compared to PSO, where, the error between the predicted and real data was negligibly small (Mean Absolute Error = 0.0726 V).

Optimum parameters extraction of proton exchange membrane fuel cells using Fractional‐Order Whale Optimization Algorithm

“…However, several different applications of the whale algorithm have been carried out, 4,[21][22][23] all of the research shows that the original whale optimization algorithm has issues in solving some problems. These problems usually are about the local optimization of problems that provides inaccurate results.…”

“…PEMFCs have received much attention compared to different fuel cells due to their benefits like the low temperature of operating, high density of power, and low time of starting 4 . This type includes various elements, which are endplates, gasket, current collector, bipolar plates, membrane electrode assembly (MEA), and gas diffusion layer (GDL) 5,6 .…”

“…PEMFCs have received much attention compared to different fuel cells due to their benefits like the low temperature of operating, high density of power, and low time of starting. 4 This type includes various elements, which are endplates, gasket, current collector, bipolar plates, membrane electrode assembly (MEA), and gas diffusion layer (GDL). 5,6 The fuel and oxygen are continually injected into the anode and cathode electrodes, respectively, and electrochemical reactions are performed on the electrodes, which results in the creation of an electric current, which passes through the GDL to the bipolar plates and then to copper plates as the current collector plates are employed.…”