Health-conscious energy management strategy for battery/fuel cell electric vehicles considering power sources dynamics

Abstract

This paper presents a new multi-stage power management strategy aimed at enhancing the security and performance of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). The proposed strategy is designed to protect sensitive vehicle power sources, such as fuel cells (FCs), from potential damages caused by abrupt load variations. This is achieved through the implementation of a model-based coordinated switching strategy that utilizes transition functions that are tailored to the transient dynamics of power sources. The power flow in HEVs is managed using a fuzzy energy management approach that allows safe and predefined operation of FCs at multiple operating points. To ensure reliable and uninterrupted HEV operation, fault detection algorithms have been integrated into the second stage of the power management strategy to detect and correct any power source failures. Simulation results indicate that the proposed fuzzy energy management strategy provides efficient usage and precise control over FC power, while the coordinated switching strategy compensates for the sluggishness of FCs and reduces transient power ripples and fluctuations in the DC bus voltage during FC operating point variations. The efficiency of the proposed multi-stage power management strategy has been validated through simulations performed on the RT LAB platform and the obtained results were deemed satisfactory.