In this paper, a new approach is proposed to evaluate the performance of a temperature of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and to determine the lifetime of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM). A fuel cell is a device of an energy conversion which takes some forms of fuel and converts it directly into electrical energy. There are numerous inevitable degradation phenomena occurring on various PEM fuel cell components. A prerequisite for optimal exploitation of these systems is assessment of their current.

The problem of estimation is even more challenging due to the lack of accurate degradation models that incorporate the complex behaviour of a fuel cell as a whole. Therefore, the proposed research will focus predominantly on developing a bond graph model of solid oxide degradation for PEM fuel cells that can be evaluated online based on information that can be acquired without interrupting the normal operation of a system under test.

In order to understand degradation of membrane and the effect of high temperature in fuel cell, a bond graph approach is developed. It is based on the integration of the thermodynamic and electrochemical phenomena taking place in the fuel cell. The thermal model is established from the fuel cell thermal energy balance.

The model is implemented under SYMBOLS (System Modelling by Bond graph Language Simulation) software and validated for steady-state and dynamic modes alike.