Light Fuel-Cell Hybrid Electric Vehicles Based on Predictive Controllers

This paper presents a predictive control-based fuel-cell hybrid electric vehicle system. Employing hybrid power sources, an ultracapacitor (UC), and a battery, the hybrid system maximizes the energy efficiency and protects the battery while achieving faster torque response based on predictive controllers residing in the boost converter, UC manager, and motor drive. The predictive controller implemented in the brushless dc (BLDC) motor drive improves the motor current response. Overall, the proposed hybrid system improves the dc-bus current response, and, hence, motor torque response, compared with a conventional proportional-integral (PI) controller-based system. The effectiveness of the proposed system has been verified through simulation and experiment.