Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Voltage Prediction by a Data-Driven Approach

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an electrochemical energy conversion device that provides higher thermoelectric efficiency than traditional cogeneration systems. Current research in this field highlights a variety of mathematical models. These models are based on complex physicochemical and electrochemical reactions, enabling accurate simulation and optimal control of fuel cells. However, these models require substantial computational resources, leading to high processing times. White box and gray box models are unable to achieve real-time optimization of control parameters. A potential solution involves using data-driven machine learning (ML) black-box models. This study examines three ML models: artificial neural network (ANN), random forest (RF), and extreme gradient boosting (XGB). The training dataset consisted of experimental results from SOFC laboratory experiments, comprising 32,843 records with 47 control parameters. The study evaluated the effectiveness of input matrix dimensionality reduction using the following feature importance evaluation methods: mean decrease in impurity (MDI), permutation importance (PI), principal component analysis (PCA), and Shapley additive explanations (SHAP). The application of ML models revealed a complex nonlinear relationship between the SOFC output voltage and the control parameters of the system. The default XGB model achieved the optimal balance between accuracy (MSE = 0.9940) and training speed (τ = 0.173 s/it), with performance capabilities that enable real-time enhancement of SOFC thermoelectric characteristics during system operation.