Open Cathode Type of Fuel Cell Stack Temperature Regulation by Active Disturbance Rejection Control

Stack temperature as an important factor to the output performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) should be well regulated. Considering the special structure of the open cathode type of PEMFC, the internal coupling between air-supply and cooling dramatically increases the difficult of the stack temperature control. Moreover, the uncertain external disturbance may appear due to the exposed cathode. After analyzing and combining the internal and external disturbances as a total disturbance, this study introduces the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) to achieve the well temperature tracking by estimating and compensating for the total disturbances. First, the thermal model of an 1-kW open cathode type of PEMFC is presented. To distinguish the linear ADRC and nonlinear ADRC in the performance of stack temperature control, simulation tests which include the step response, anti-disturbance and a mixed driving cycle (EUDC+UDDS) are carried out. The results indicate that both ADRCs have strong disturbance rejection ability, but the nonlinear ADRC with faster response and no-overshoot is more suitable for the stack temperature regulation of the open cathode type of PEMFC.