Time delay control for fuel cells with bidirectional DC/DC converter and battery

Transient behavior is a key property in the vehicular application of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. A better control technology is constructed to increase the transient performance of PEM fuel cells. A steady-state isothermal analytical fuel cell model is constructed to analyze mass transfer and water transport in the membrane. To prevent the starvation of air in the PEM fuel cell, time delay control is used to regulate the optimum stoichiometric amount of oxygen, although dynamic fluctuations exist in the PEM fuel cell power. A bidirectional DC/DC converter connects the battery to the DC link to manage the power distribution between the fuel cell and the battery. Dynamic evolution control (DEC) allows for adequate pulse-width modulation (PWM) control of the bidirectional DC/DC converter with fast response. Matlab/Simulink/Simpower simulation is performed to validate the proposed methodology, increase the transient performance of the PEM fuel cell system and satisfy the requirement of energy management.