Health-Conscious Optimization of Long-Term Operation for Hybrid PEMFC Ship Propulsion Systems

Chiara Dall’Armi, Davide Pivetta and Rodolfo Taccani
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Chiara Dall’Armi: Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, via Valerio 10, 34127 Trieste, Italy
Davide Pivetta: Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, via Valerio 10, 34127 Trieste, Italy
Rodolfo Taccani: Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, via Valerio 10, 34127 Trieste, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: The need to decarbonize the shipping sector is leading to a growing interest in fuel cell-based propulsion systems. While Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) represent one of the most promising and mature technologies for onboard implementation, they are still prone to remarkable degradation. The same problem is also affecting Lithium-ion batteries (LIB), which are usually coupled with PEMFC in hybrid powertrains. By including the combined degradation effects in an optimization strategy, the best compromise between costs and PEMFC/LIB lifetime could be determined. However, this is still a challenging yet crucial aspect, rarely addressed in the literature and rarely yet explored. To fill this gap, a health-conscious optimization is here proposed for the long-term minimization of costs and PEMFC/LIB degradation. Results show that a holistic multi-objective optimization allows a 185% increase of PEMFC/LIB lifetime with respect to a fuel-consumption-minimization-only approach. With the progressive ageing of PEMFC/LIB, the hybrid propulsion system modifies the energy management strategy to limit the increase of the daily operation cost. Comparing the optimization results at the beginning and the end of the plant lifetime, daily operation costs are increased by 73% and hydrogen consumption by 29%. The proposed methodology is believed to be a useful tool, able to give insights into the effective costs involved in the long-term operation of this new type of propulsion system.

Keywords: PEMFC degradation; lithium-ion battery degradation; health-conscious optimization; hybrid PEMFC ship propulsion; MILP approach; RO-Pax ferry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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