Design, development and on-field testing of advanced solutions for monitoring, diagnosis and fault mitigation of SOFCs

Abstract

The work presented in this thesis is aimed at developing an advanced algorithm to monitor the State of Health (SoH) of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs). Then a computational structure has been implemented for the diagnosis of fuel cells faults along with a set of strategies for mitigation actions. The main idea is to apply advanced methods based on Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) for diagnosis. Then, EIS and Conventional approaches are used to infer on the SOFC system status and to predict its Remaining Useful Life (RUL). Moreover, all those approaches are applied to provide helpful guidelines on possible mitigation countermeasures to be actuated in case of faults. SOFCs can play a bene cial role in the World's changing energy landscape, being one of the most suitable alternatives to conventional energy production systems for stationary power generation, co-generation and Auxiliary Power Unit (APU). In the last decade, the enhancement of these SOFC-based products has opened perspectives and opportunities that make them valid solutions to contribute to the energy decarbonization scenario. In Europe, their deployment is still limited by high manufacturing costs and limited lifetime due to faulty operations and degradation processes (i.e. leakage, carbon deposition, anode reoxidation, poisoning, etc.), which reduce cell performance during time and can lead to failures in the main components (i.e. the cells). As far as maintenance and warranty expenses are concerned, it is clear that increased reliability and lifetime will contribute to the reduction of SOFCs operating costs and their further market success. .. [edited by Author]