Nonlinear MPC for the airflow in a PEM fuel cell using a Volterra series model

Gruber, J.K.; Bordons, Carlos; Oliva, Alejandro

doi:10.1016/j.conengprac.2011.10.014

Cited by 110 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…2. As the hydrogen, usually stored in a pressurized tank is fed through a fast opening valve, air-flow can be considered as the main control variable of a PEMFC [46,47]. For this reason, major efforts within scientific literature have focused on preventing, modeling, and studying the oxygen starvation phenomenon.…”

Section: Reactant Gas Starvationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Main Power Electronics' Advances in Order to Ensure Efficient Operation and Durability of PEMFCs

et al. 2012

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Original scientific paperThis article focuses on the main issues that affect the lifetime and performance of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. The short lifespans of these fuel cells represent a barrier to their massive commercialization and usage in mobile and stationary applications. As fuel cell is a very complex system, a lot of knowledge of different areas is required, such as chemistry, electricity and mechanics, in order to completely understand its operation and all the problems that can occur during it. It is for this reason that an interdisciplinary approach needs to be taken when designing fuel-cell energy systems. This paper focuses on identifying and solving those issues that negatively affect the lifetime and performance of fuel cells. It is hoped that this article would be a valuable aid for power electronics' researchers and engineers for better understanding the presented issues and a useful guide for solving them with the use of proper power electronic-devices. Initially, the basic operation and structure of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell is explained. Three main issues that can occur during operation of a mobile or stationary fuel cell energy system are pointed out and discussed in details, on the basis of the state-of-the-art on fuel cell technology. These issues are poor water management, reactant gas starvation and fuel cell current ripple. This article provides answers as to why they occur, how they affect the fuel cell, how they can be mitigated, and what are the future trends within this research field.Key words: PEMFC, Water management, Reactant gas starvation, Current ripple, Power electronics.Pregled znanstvenih napredaka u učinskoj elektronici usmjerenih ka osiguravanju efikasnog rada i dužeg životnog vijeka PEM gorivihćelija.Članak se osvrće na ključna pitanja koja utječu na vrijeme rada i performanse gorivihćelija s polimernom membranom kao elektrolitom. Kratak životni vijek gorivihćelija takve vrste prepreka je njihovoj komercijalizaciji i masovnoj upotrebi u mobilnim i stacionarnim stanicama. Budući da su gorivećelije komplicirani sustavi potrebno je znanje iz raznih područja kemije, elektrotehnike i mehanike da bi se u potpunosti mogao razumjeti njihov način rada i problemi koji se dogadaju. Upravo je zbog toga multidisciplinarni pristup nužnost pri razvoju sustava koji koriste gorivećelije. Ovaj ječlanak usmjeren prema identifikaciji i rješavanju onih problema koji negativno utječu na životni vijek i performanse gorivihćelija. Autori se nadaju daće sečlanak pokazati kao korisna pomoć i vodič istraživačima i inženjerima u domeni učinske elektronike pri susretu s navedenim problemima. Objašnjen je način rada i struktura gorivećelije s polimernom membranom kao elektrolitom. Izložena su, i diskutirana do u detalje, tri glavna problema sa stajališta trenutačnih spoznaja u području učinske elektronike. Ti problemi su: loše upravljanje vodom, nestanak reaktantnog plina i strujni trzaji u gorivimćelijama. Objašnjeno je zašto se ovi problemi dogadaju, kako utječu na gorivućelij...

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Section: Reactant Gas Starvationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Main Power Electronics' Advances in Order to Ensure Efficient Operation and Durability of PEMFCs

et al. 2012

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“…λ o 2 is considered as a performance variable of the system and its control is an important factor since it ensures the safety of the fuel cell [36]. Oxygen starvation is a significant problem that could lead to irreversible damages to the polymeric membranes if λ o 2 < 1 persists for a long time [32,41].…”

Section: Oxygen Excess Ratiomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some advanced control approaches have been proposed for the air circuit control in the past few years [33][34][35][36]. In [37][38][39], model predictive control (MPC) methods, including nonlinear MPC, explicit MPC and constraint MPC, were studied for the air feed of a fuel cell. Those paper are focused only on maintaining the oxygen excess ratio in a desired value by controlling the compressor voltage.…”

Section: Choice For Pem Fuel Cell Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Control of an Ultrahigh-Speed Centrifugal Compressor for the Air Management of Fuel Cell Systems

Zhao

Blunier

Gao

et al. 2014

IEEE Trans. on Ind. Applicat.

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Fuel cell is a power supply system, which takes advantage of the electro-chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen to produce electricity with water as its byproduct. Due to their lower pollution and high efficiency compared with fossil fuels, fuel cell systems are under extensive development for many power applications. Compared with high temperature fuel cells (such as molten carbonate fuel cells or solid oxide fuel cells), the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is more suitable for automotive applications because of its low temperature working condition, thereby a fast startup.Air compressor supplying the oxygen to the stack is an important component in the fuel cell systems. The compressor can consumes up to 20 % of the generated power in the most severe cases. The selecting of the compressor and corresponding control are directly related to the performance of the fuel cell. The size and weight of the air compressor has to be reduced to make them more feasible for automotive applications. Moreover, the control of the air compression system is also an important issue, which affects the efficiency and the safety of the fuel cell. To avoid oxygen starvation of the stack, the mass flow of the supplied air has to be controlled appropriately according to the load demand. Meanwhile, the pressure should not have large deviations or ripples which may damage the stack membrane.In this thesis, the requirements to the compressor for fuel cell applications are discussed. And several kinds of compressor are compared, including positive displacement types and dynamic superchargers. In the view of compactness, an ultra-high speed, up to 280,000 rpm, centrifugal compressor is adopted. The centrifugal compressor which is a kind of dynamics superchargers converts the kinetic energy of the air to the pressure. Compared with positive displacement compressors, it has the advantages of compactness, high efficiency and low noise, making it more suitable for automotive applications. However, the difficulty of the control as well as the surge iv constraint obstructs its industrial implementation for fuel cells.In this dissertation, The model of the air compression system is developed and the coupling between the model inputs and outputs are analyzed. The compressor map is measured and then fitted by a two hidden layer neural network model. The relative gain array (RGA) method is used for the coupling analysis. It shows that the coupling degree varies as the operation point changes because of the nonlinearity of the system. The second part of this work focuses on solving the control problems to adapt the centrifugal compressor to the fuel cell system. The objective is to control the mass flow and pressure simultaneously according to the fuel cell load demand. The problem lies in the coupling between the mass flow control and pressure control because the variations of one variable will also lead to the deviation of the other one. The interaction between the two control loops declines the performance of the fuel cell...

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“…The oxygen excess ratio gives the fraction between the oxygen flow supplied to the cathode and the consumed in the electrochemical reaction, and it must be higher than one for a proper performance of the fuel cell [2]. Few works have used model-based control systems [2]- [8] or MPP methods [9]- [13] for regulating the oxygen excess ratio. In particular, two kinds of MPP approaches can be found in the literature: a first group maximizes the power generation by tracking the optimal stack current for the demanded power; and a second group maximizes the power generation by regulating the optimal compressor voltage, keeping the oxygen excess ratio constant at any operating condition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sistema de control para reducir el consumo de hidrógeno en celdas de combustible PEM considerando incertidumbres paramétricas

Ríos

Ramos‐Paja

Espinosa

2016

TecnoL.

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Este artículo presenta un sistema de control para reducir el consumo de hidrogeno para una celda de combustible de Membrana de Intercambio Protónico, considerando incertidumbres paramétricas. El sistema de control incluye un modelo no lineal en el espacio de estado para la celda de combustible, un filtro de Kalman/estimador, un regulador óptimo cuadrático y algoritmo de seguimiento de puntos de máxima potencia (MPP). El objetivo de control es suministrar la potencia de carga demandada, evitando el agotamiento del oxígeno y minimizando el consumo de hidrógeno por medio de un algoritmo de Perturbación y Observación (P&O). El desempeño del sistema de control es evaluado ante incertidumbres paramétricas al simular escenarios de perdida de desempeño como producto del envejecimiento del compresor. De esta forma, dos escenarios fueron simulados: un primer escenario simula un error entre la ganancia (de lazo abierto) del compresor de la celda de combustible y la del modelo; y un segundo escenario, con un error entre la corriente de pérdidas y del compresor de la celda de combustible con respecto al modelo. Los resultados de simulación muestran que el filtro Kalman/estimador logra contrarrestar las incertidumbres producidas por los cambios paramétricos del sistema. Igualmente, el algoritmo MPP logra suministrar el voltaje del compresor adecuado sin necesidad de un perfil óptimo en condiciones ideales.

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Nonlinear MPC for the airflow in a PEM fuel cell using a Volterra series model

Cited by 110 publications

References 20 publications

A Review of the Main Power Electronics' Advances in Order to Ensure Efficient Operation and Durability of PEMFCs

A Review of the Main Power Electronics' Advances in Order to Ensure Efficient Operation and Durability of PEMFCs

Control of an Ultrahigh-Speed Centrifugal Compressor for the Air Management of Fuel Cell Systems

Sistema de control para reducir el consumo de hidrógeno en celdas de combustible PEM considerando incertidumbres paramétricas

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