Fuel cell and load as one dynamic system
The doctoral research treated the fuel cell and its electrical load as one dynamic system rather than analyzing the stack in isolation. A dynamic PEM fuel-cell model was developed in Simulink and integrated with changing load demand to reproduce the interaction between electrochemical behavior, output voltage, reactant supply, and the power electronics connected to the stack.
Control across changing operating conditions
The control problem combined fuel and oxidant flow regulation with electrical power and voltage regulation under changing demand. The operating point of the fuel cell moves nonlinearly as current demand changes, so the controller had to account for the wider system response rather than only a fixed stack operating point.
Concentration-loss protection and recovery
The control problem became especially difficult near the concentration-loss region, where overdriving the fuel cell can make normal recovery ineffective and risk permanent damage. The thesis proposed a recovery/protection strategy for this regime as part of the wider control architecture.
Related conference work
An earlier conference publication, Control Strategy for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Systems, was presented at the UKACC International Conference on Control in Glasgow. It addressed dynamic fuel-cell behavior, power regulation, and control of a system whose operating point changes with demand.
Authors: Ali Abul-Hawa, M. S. Y. Ebaid, F. S. Bhinder, R. Clay.
Research record
Investigation of control problems of the PEM fuel cell for variable power demand. Doctoral thesis, Coventry University. Dynamic fuel-cell/load modeling, voltage and power control, nonlinear operating range, and recovery from concentration-loss overdrive.