Black-box model and identification methodology for PEM fuel cell with overdamped transient response

Fuel cells are one of the main power sources to be used in a future on-board field. Power distribution architectures based on fuel cells, batteries and supercapacitors for hybrid vehicles are large and complex systems due to the high number and nature of power converters, loads, secondary energy sources, etc. So, in order to accurately design at system level, the use of modeling and simulation tools is essential. This paper proposes a black-box fuel cell model, which reproduces the overdamped transient response of commercial fuel cells. The fuel cell model is parameterized from manufacturer's datasheets and from a test based on load steps, through a simple methodology provided along this paper. The black-box fuel cell model is validated experimentally through a commercial fuel cell.