Role of intelligent controllers in proton exchange membrane fuel cell voltage tracking

Abstract

Global Warming and Climate change are the major threats that the world is facing currently and several research works are carried out with an aim to locate alternative solutions for energy generation with minimal greenhouse gas emissions features. Data pertaining to the current research findings indicate the major amount of CO2 emissions is due to the automobile sector and stringent regulations has to be enforced to make the emissions null. Employing fuel cells may diminish the CO2 emissions from this sector. Fuel cell technology is one of the renewable energy technology that can promote a carbon-free environment and can be used in mobile, stationary and portable applications. Out of the various types of fuel cells, Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is widely used in automobile applications due to its high power density, quick start-up and low operating temperature. But the performance of the fuel cell depends on various parameters such as the amount of reactants, their partial pressures, temperature and humidity. Hence appropriate control strategies and algorithms have to be developed to optimize their performance as well as efficiency. This thesis analyzes various control strategies including Fractional Order PID Controller which is used for controlling and maintaining the fuel cell output voltage to a desired value for optimal use for commercial applications. It also discusses the Harmony search optimization algorithm function and simulation. The simulation results demonstrates the Harmony search optimized Fractional Order PID controller attaining the objective function very close when compared to other conventional controllers. The performance of the controllers are also analyzed and compared by estimating the time response characteristics and system errors. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is also evaluated for its efficacy by using the same for controlling the DC Motor speed of a Electric vehicle. newline