Oxygen excess ratio control of PEM fuel cells using observer-based nonlinear triple-step controller

This paper proposes a novel observer-based nonlinear triple-step controller for the air supply system of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The control objective is adjusting the oxygen excess ratio to its reference value under fast current transitions, so as to avoid the oxygen starvation and obtain the maximum net power. Considering that the cathode pressure cannot be measured directly, we design a disturbance observer to estimate the cathode pressure based on the developed third-order nonlinear model of air supply system. Next, a triple-step nonlinear method is applied to derive an oxygen excess ratio tracking controller, wherein the stability of closed-loop system is guaranteed by Lyapunov-based technique. Subsequently, several key issues of controller in practical implementation are explained, and then the robustness analysis against the considered lumped disturbance is carried out. Finally, the performance of the proposed control scheme is validated through a series of comparative simulations, and the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach under different load variations and parameter uncertainties.