Robust Lifecycle Design and Health Monitoring for Fuel-Cell Extended Performance (RESILIENCE)

The UK has a commitment to reduce green house gas emissions by 80% by 2050. To achieve this the UK energy sector has to migrate towards supplying innovative, high quality, highly reliable, low or zero emission energy generation sources. Hydrogen and fuel cells have emerged as potential initiatives that could serve as alternative energy sources. They are currently being engineered for a range of applications including automotive, stationary power, aerospace and consumer electronics. Each application presents its own set of requirements for the fuel cell system including performance, operating range and cost. With the introduction of a new technology into markets, where existing products are highly reliable, requires that this aspect of the system performance must match customer expectations which are demanded for a new product. The area of focus of this research aims to improve the durability and reliability of this new energy source by better system integration and design optimisation, coupled with effective health management to maximise the life of the power source. The outcome is a real time dynamic and adaptive intelligent lifecycle infrastructure with leading edge research in system design for reliability, prognostics and diagnostics, and semantically modeling relationships been the product and the environment for fuel cells, achieved through a multidisciplinary approach, including the areas of mathematics, information science and engineering. The dividends both in design efficiencies and lifecycle management can be achieved placing hydrogen and fuel cell power sources at the forefront of future UK energy provision.

The field of interest for reliable zero-emission power sources is considerable. As such there are a broad and diverse collection of beneficiaries including the companies involved in such power generation technologies (including: automotive, aerospace, stationary power and consumer electronics), academics conducting research in this field and importantly, the general public.

To develop the system design and asset management methodology proposed would provide scientific and knowledge advances in the areas of: fuel cell reliability assessment, fuel cell diagnostic and prognostic capability, maintenance modelling, optimisation techniques, and data management and integration for large amounts of data. Advances would also be established in producing a unique decision support framework which would enable decision support for prolonged system life. The successful implementation of a 'living' structure to update the outcomes as new information was received would require advances in the software techniques used to support data handling and manipulation.

Academic beneficiaries include those working in the disciplines of reliability assessment; data collection, analysis, and handling; and fuel cell technologies. The approach advocated in this proposal will represent the most imaginative and innovative step forward in integrated system level reliability assessment and health monitoring for effective asset management for fuel cell technologies.

The benefits resulting to society come from the application of the research in an industrial context. Intelligent Energy, through their reference models related to their current systems, will demonstrate the applicability of the methods. Longer term many other sectors would gain from the devolution of the research outputs. Three main societal benefits would result these being:
(1) The models and decision support tools would enable objective decision making to control the longevity of the power generation system such that they can be operated and maintained to maximise the system life. It is better to be proactive and predict and prevent service disruption failures than reactive by responding and correcting them. The tools would enable a good quality of service provision to be maintained.
(2) The effective use of the limited funds and resources available such that adequate service reliability performance is achieved. This will drive down the operating costs and therefore the costs to the customers.
(3) Enabling the management of a zero-emission power generation source to meet performance requirements that are demanded will allow mass utilisation of such sources, reducing emissions, and significantly enhancing the health of the biosphere in which society lives.

Given the relative infancy of these new zero emission power sources, understanding and managing them throughout the lifecycle is critical. If industries can operate to produce a reliable service, with acceptable performance, at minimum costs, this will impact on the costs of these services. The net result will be to make UK businesses more competitive and give a boost to the UK economy.

The skill and knowledge of all of those involved in the project would be developed with the beneficiaries being the three Research Associates. They would enhance their research capability, modelling and computational skills. A deeper understanding of the application areas would also develop along with the organisational and communication capabilities. Through dissemination activities, teaching of the methods developed in the research to undergraduates and postgraduates would enhance the skill set of future engineers in this area.