Anticipatory control of a PEM fuel cell for a serial Hybrid Electric Vehicle

This paper investigates the energy management problem of a serial Hybrid Electric Vehicle which is using a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel cell. During the vehicle stop-and-go operation, a high power is drawn from the batteries which may negatively affect their performances. So, it is desirable to use the fuel cell to reduce these high power demands. However, due to its slow start-up, the fuel cell cannot adequately track these high powers. The proposed energy management system and power splitting algorithm aims at reducing the high power demand on the batteries by using an anticipatory control of the Fuel Cell power production whilst maintaining at the same time the battery energy at a minimum prescribed value. The power splitting algorithm is based on the optimal control theory and the obtained control system does not require a prior information. Therefore, it can be implemented in real time. Simulations show that the proposed approach is effective.