The SAPPHIRE project will develop an integrated prognostics and health management system (PHM) including a
health-adaptive controller to extend the lifetime and increase the reliability of heat and power-producing systems
based on low-temperature proton-e xchange membrane fuel cells (LT-PEMFC).
The PHM system can actively track the current health and degradation state of the fuel-cell system, and through
the health-adaptive control counteract the degradation of cells and balance of plant, and thereby boost the
lifetime of the controlled system beyond the current lifetime expectancy. An important part of project is to develop
novel prognostics approaches implemented in the PHM for estimation of the remaining useful life (RUL) of the
PEMFC.
An efficient sens or configuration for control will be chosen using controllability analysis methods, also including
indirect sensing/estimation techniques to replace expensive measurement principles. Based on sensor inputs
and input from the control system, the PHM algori thms identify the probable failure modes trajectories and
estimate the remaining useful life. The consortium?s competence ranges from first principles estimation, to signal
processing, regression and data-driven techniques, such as neural
networks. This e nsures an efficient choice of methods.
The project covers a full cycle of research activities, from requirement specification and laboratory experiments,
through study of degradation phenomena and selection of prognostic methods, to synthesis of the contr ol system
and its testing on the target PEMFC system. A technical-economical analysis will be performed in order to
assess the impact of the developed tool in terms of lifetime improvement.
The project is expected to produce hardware and so.ware solutions and have a significant scientific output.
The implemented solutions resulting from the project will be tested and validated by the research and industrial
partners.