Adaptive Power Transient Smoothing Control Considering Performance Degradation for Multistack Fuel Cell Hybrid Power Systems

To mitigate the detrimental impact of high-rate power fluctuations on the performance of multistack fuel cell (FC) and address the influence of varying performance degrees of individual proton exchange membrane FCs (PEMFCs) within the multistack FC (MS-FC) on the overall system lifespan, this article introduces an innovative approach known as adaptive power transient smoothing control (APTSC) based on virtual inertia (VI). APTSC not only mitigates power transients across the entire MS-FC but also dynamically regulates the level of power transient smoothing based on the performance of each PEMFC in the MS-FC. As a result, it ensures that the output power of the PEMFC with lower performance becomes smoother, ultimately leading to performance convergence among PEMFCs within the MS-FC. Simultaneously, APTSC enhances the ability of the battery pack to accommodate additional power transients. Finally, the feasibility and superiority of the proposed APTSC method are demonstrated through the RT-LAB hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test platform. The experimental results affirm the efficacy of APTSC in effectively mitigating power transients in the MS-FC while also regulating the smoothing degree of the output power for PEMFCs experiencing varying degrees of performance degradation.