Output tracking control of a hydrogen-air PEM fuel cell

Hydrogen-air proton exchange membrane U+0028 PEM U+0029 fuel cell is a promising clean energy. However, the stack output tracking control is still a challenging problem due to the soft characteristic of the stack. Both over- and less- control will cause the stack flooding or oxygen lacking which dramatically decreases the life of stacks. Traditional control methods rely on the accurate model of the fuel cell system, which is a high-order nonlinear system, and involve a complex controller design process. This paper combines the data-based fuzzy cluster modeling technology with the sliding mode control and the integral actions. The sliding mode controller tracks the dynamic changes of the fuel cell system and the integral controller eliminates the steady-state errors. Simulation results demonstrate good performance of the proposed control method.