Efficient Voltage Control in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell: An Approach based on Intelligent Algorithms

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe fuel cells, as the recently emerged power sources, offer a number of unique benefits such as higher efficiency, lower environmental impacts, and suitable scalability. These merits are achieved by devising accurate and efficient control mechanisms adopted for enhanced technical performances. Evidently, rapid voltage variations and a slow dynamic response are recognized as important challenges for an efficient voltage control mission in fuel cells. To overcome such issues, the ongoing study addresses the design procedure and numerical validation of an intelligent approach to enhance the voltage control process in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) assembly. The implemented approach deploys the bacterial foraging algorithm (BFA) as the intelligent optimization engine. In mathematical statements, a complete modeling of PEMFC is first developed and then investigated thoroughly. To provoke an easy-implementable and trustable industrial controller, the renowned lead–lag controller is allocated herein. As the initial step, the established controller is tuned for a fixed operating point. Such practice, although reveals a good knowledge regarding the current state of the whole system, depreciates its performance in changing conditions. Thus, the second stage deploys the established BFA to optimally tune the controller against the changing conditions and faults happenings. Extensive numerical studies are carried out to assess the performance of the proposed controller. Results are discussed in depth.