A 1-D 2-phase control-oriented mass transfer model of PEM fuel cells

Controlling optimally the operating parameters of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is promising to improve its performance. A control-oriented model is often needed to favour the control design. In this paper, a 1-D 2-phase control-oriented mass transfer model is developed. The objective of developing such a model is to reveal fuel cell internal states in real-time. A nodal method is proposed to discretize the model spatial dimension and enable the real-time model implementation. Moreover, the model parameter identification for the developed model is presented to achieve reliable model calibration. The model is tested and analyzed in dynamic operating conditions and its potential applications are discussed in this paper.