Real-time PEM fuel cell fault classification in smart manufacturing plant by using uncertainty aware federated deep learning
Scientific Reports, Published online: 26 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-51217-3 Real-time PEM fuel cell fault classification in smart manufacturing plant by using uncertainty aware federated deep learning
Real-time PEM fuel cell fault classification in smart manufacturing plants can now be achieved using an uncertainty-aware federated deep learning model called UFDL-Edge. This innovative architecture addresses the complex and highly unpredictable nature of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) through a hybrid approach that combines Byzantine-resistant aggregation and uncertainty quantification.
The UFDL-Edge model is designed to detect defects in PEMFCs in real-time while preserving data privacy and minimizing bandwidth constraints, even in distributed manufacturing locales.
The UFDL-Edge model incorporates uncertainty-aware feature detectors and employs a hierarchical, federated learning approach to enhance the resilience of fault detection across various operating conditions. In extensive testing involving three testbeds of smart manufacturing plants, the UFDL-Edge model demonstrated impressive results, including a 10.3% improvement in F1-score for initial anomaly detection, a 23.7% reduction in false positive ratio, and less than 100ms latency for real-time diagnostics.
To tackle the challenges posed by PEMFCs, such as cold start issues, water flooding, thermal controller malfunctions, and catalyst degradation, the UFDL-Edge model utilizes a footprinting framework that eliminates these obstacles. By capitalizing on the collaborative intelligence of federated learning, the model is able to utilize data locality while maintaining data sovereignty across manufacturing plants.
This approach ensures that the benefits of real-time PEMFC monitoring and management can be harnessed in industry, while addressing the limitations of traditional centralized machine learning-based PEMFC fault diagnosis schemes.
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