Abstract
Small air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems are increasingly relevant for portable and distributed applications, yet practical modeling and monitoring methods remain limited: high-fidelity physics-based models are too costly for real-time use, while purely data-driven models discard physical interpretability. This thesis develops an experimentally grounded gray-box framework for the characterization, reduced-order modeling, and IoT-enabled monitoring of a small hydrogen PEMFC system. A low-order nonlinear state-space model couples an electrochemical voltage layer to a lumped thermal layer, with parameters identified in stages using self-adaptive differential evolution. Identifiability analysis shows that static loss parameters are well constrained, while dynamic parameters are resolved only in combination. The model generalizes to independent data with out-of-sample R² values of 0.91 for voltage and 0.82 for temperature; the electrical layer transfers robustly, whereas the thermal layer remains reliable only within its characterized envelope, providing a practical foundation for future digital-twin development.
Date of publication
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Language
english
Persistent identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/5113
Committee members
Mohammad Biswas, Shih-Feng Chou , Hayder Abdul-Razzak
Degree
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Recommended Citation
Alhjouj, Ahmad N., "SIMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF FUEL CELL SYSTEM INCORPORATED INTERNET OF THINGS" (2026). Mechanical Engineering Theses. Paper 46.
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/5113
Included in
Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons, Energy Systems Commons, Engineering Education Commons, Heat Transfer, Combustion Commons