Observations on the Parameter Estimation Problem of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Polarization Curves

The optimal operation of fuel cells in changing environmental and variable load conditions requires mathematical modeling. The electrochemical behavior of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) is commonly described with a semi-empirical model requiring fuel cell specific model parameter values. A large number of different nature inspired, heuristic optimization methods have been proposed for this PEMFC parameter estimation problem. In this study, those studies are listed and critically reviewed. In particular, the aim is to elaborate the generalization ability of the results and discuss the fair comparison of the algorithms used for the parameter estimation of the polarization curve. The observations made in this review could further increase the quality of future contributions in this particular area, as well as applications of heuristic optimization methods in other related problems in fuel cell systems.