Thermal management system for liquid-cooling PEMFC stack: From primary configuration to system control strategy

Abstract

Of various interacting and coupling factors acting on efficiency and durability of PEM fuel cell (PEMFC), comfort temperature level with good homogeneity maintains a dominant role in stack-level, and even integrated system which confronted with load changes frequently. Featured with low-grade reaction heat generation (60–80 °C) and its high proportion (∼50%) accounting for entire yield, liquid-cooling PEMFC stack considerably relies on the construction of thermal management scheme to achieve dynamic heat balance. Furthermore, to improve the efficiency and lifetime goals, coordinate operation of thermal management components is highly activated by robust control-oriented strategy with advanced modeling algorithm. Hence, this review focus on thermal management system (TMS) for liquid-cooling PEMFC stack, from the perspectives of primary configuration and system control strategy. Firstly, temperature control configurations with dual-control targets of TMS are introduced, followed by the development status of cooling channel design and novel coolant adoption. Then, thermal management scheme with coupling architecture is analyzed and discussed in order to address the necessity of decoupling the temperature regulation to improve the dynamic response of TMS. Based on the current situation of typical robust non-PID feedback and feedforward control strategy, novel control strategies with emerging modeling algorithms are presented to show the feasibility targets of comfort temperature grade, the robust response against varying loads as well as high efficiency with lower parasitic power. Finally, in conclusion and perspectives, the guideline and outlook of TMS for liquid-cooling PEMFC are provided to highlight its extensive potentials in low-grade heat recovery of large-power and high-efficiency PEMFC-based powertrain or FCEVs. • Proper temperature with uniformity is critical for efficiency and durability of PEMFC stack. • Advanced TMS for temperature control of liquid-cooling PEMFC is emphasized. • Effects of cooling channel design and novel coolant adoption upon TMS are discussed. • Novel temperature control strategy modelling should be further weighed under practical test.