Data-driven fault diagnosis of PEMFC water management with segmented cell and deep learning technologies

Abstract

Timely and effective fault diagnosis is crucial to guarantee the reliability and durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Segmented cell technology has been proven to be a powerful tool for exploring the internal characteristics of fuel cells, yet it is seldom applied for fault diagnosis. This paper proposes a data-driven fault diagnosis method that combines segmented cell and deep learning technology for PEMFC water management fault diagnosis. The dynamic characteristics of the current distribution of the fuel cell under different levels of faults are explored with segmented cell technology. A dual-input convolutional neural network is applied to combine current distribution data and sensor data for a more comprehensive system status for fault diagnosis. The results show that the model can efficiently identify flooding and drying faults with more than 98.5% accuracy, faster and more accurately than other algorithms. This work highlights the significance of segmented cell technology for the comprehension of water management inside PEMFC and provides a new concept for PEMFC fault diagnosis.