Fuel Efficient Model Predictive Control of PEM Fuel Cells
Abstract
A dynamic PEM fuel cell model has been developed, taking into account spatial dependencies of voltage, current, material flows, and temperatures. The voltage, current, and therefore the efficiency, are dependent on the temperature and other manipulated variables, which can be optimized on the fly to improve fuel efficiency. Here we demonstrate that model predictive control can accurately satisfy setpoint changes in the power demand, while at the same time, reduce fuel consumption to maximize the efficiency.