Optimal control of fuel over-pressure in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system during load change

This paper, presents an optimal control approach for maintaining the differential pressure between the anode and cathode sides, known as fuel over-pressure, in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell using model predictive control. In order to achieve the performance requirements, a proportional control valve is used and the state-space representation of the system is linearly approximated around each operating condition, and the overall model has been verified experimentally. Numerical simulation results are also provided to show the controller performance using experimental data from a 9-cell PEM fuel cell stack. These proof-of-concept results show the effectiveness of the controller to provide the optimal control input while satisfying the constraints of the problem.