Controller design and experiment for autothermal reforming of methanol in miniature reactor

- A miniature methanol fuel processor is introduced along with its control scheme for hydrogen production.
- An adaptive sliding mode control along with a HGO is adopted as the hydrogen flow rate controller for regulating hydrogen generation.
- A variable ratio controller is designed to maintain reforming temperature.
- The effectiveness of the entire system is verified through both theoretical analysis and actual experiments.

In this paper, a miniature methanol fuel processor and its controller design is introduced for onboard hydrogen production. The hydrogen is generated via autothermal reforming of methanol. The control scheme consists of a hydrogen flow rate controller and a reforming temperature controller. To deal with uncertain system dynamics and external disturbance, an adaptive sliding mode control algorithm is adopted as the hydrogen flow rate controller for regulating hydrogen flow rate by manipulating methanol flow rate. Additionally, a high-gain observer is implemented to estimate the unmeasurable system state. The stability of closed-loop system is guaranteed by standard Lyapunov analysis. Furthermore, a variable ratio control law is employed as the reforming temperature controller to achieve steady reforming temperature by adjusting the reforming air flow rate. Finally, the effectiveness of the entire system is testified by experimental means.