Optimal power management for fuel cell-battery full hybrid powertrain on a test station

In this study, a test station of fuel cell-battery hybrid powertrain is established for validating the control strategy and system components as a Hardware-in-the-Loop test platform. Firstly, a fuel cell and LiFeO4 battery pack full hybrid powertrain is presented and the structure and methods of the module-based test station are described. Secondly, a power management strategy is proposed for the hybrid powertrain, aiming to minimize the hydrogen consumption of the fuel cell stack with a limited power rising rate and meanwhile to obtain a given depleting value for the state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack over the ECE driving cycle. The strategy has been implemented in the Matlab/Simulink software and its effectiveness is evaluated by the simulation results and experimental data from the test station. Finally, it is deduced that the proposed fuel cell-battery full hybrid powertrain can bring about greater improvements in driving range than pure battery electric vehicle. Thus, it is confirmed that the full hybrid structure and optimal control scheme can be used to achieve specific objectives for fuel cell-battery hybrid powertrains.