Control strategy for the anode gas supply system in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell system

Stable pressure control can improve the lifespan, efficiency, and stability of proton exchange membrane fuel cell system (PEMFCs). We successfully implemented a feedforward-based proportion-integral controller (FPIC) to control the anode pressure of a 100 kW fuel cell system. The bench experimental results demonstrate that the fuel cell stack achieves a maximum efficiency of 62.3 %, while the fuel cell power generation system achieve a maximum efficiency of 53.5 %. Under the steady-state and dynamic conditions, the strategy achieves a pressure tracking control accuracy of 98.93 % and 94.47 %, respectively. To address the large overshoot phenomenon and slow response speed of the FPIC when controlling the anode pressure, we further design a second order active disturbance rejection controller (SOADRC). The simulation results show that the SOADRC exhibits higher control stability and lower overshoot than FPIC. Moreover, it demonstrates a 51.3 % increase in response speed and an 80.7 % improvement in control stability under steady-state conditions compared to FPIC. The evaluation metrics for the error integral criterion (eISE = 0.023, eITSE = 2.58, eIAE = 0.35, and eIEAE = 36.76) are lower than FPIC, which demonstrates that the SOADRC provides more precise control of anode pressure, and enhances the stability of PEMFCs.