An Optimization Model for the Optimal Control of the Oxygen Excess Ratio in a Hydrogen Fuel Cell System

This paper focuses on the control of a fuel cell system, for which an optimization model is proposed to control the oxygen excess ratio in order to tackle the fuel cell starvation phenomenon and increase the net power production of the system. The optimization problem considers the detailed nonlinear dynamics of the stack and the air supply sub -system as constraints and upper and lower bounds to consider the technical limitations in the system's operation. The goal is to maintain the oxygen excess ratio at its reference value, using the compressor input voltage as a control variable, under several load variations of the current demand, considered as the external noise to the system. The proposed nonlinear optimization problem has been applied to a 75 kW stack used in the Ford P2000 fuel cell prototype vehicles, and results have been compared to the proportional -integral (PI) control technique. The proposed control approach has shown a significant enhancement in the control performance of the oxygen excess ratio.