Output Voltage Control of Hydrogen Engine Generator Using A Hill Climbing Method by Adjusting the Hydrogen Flow Rate with A Proportional Control Valve

Hydrogen engine generator has attracted attention because it is cheaper than fuel cells and does not emit CO
₂
. However, hydrogen flow rate must be controlled appropriately according to output power, which changes depending on the load. If the hydrogen flow rate input into the engine was not controlled appropriately, the output voltage is dropped or the fuel efficiency becomes worse. In this paper, output voltage control of a hydrogen engine generator using a hill climbing method with an evaluation function simulating a quadratic function is proposed. It is clarified by experiments that the output voltage of the generator can be controlled to a constant value by applying the hill climbing method with the evaluation function even when the load fluctuates. In addition, it is shown that the response time can be shortened by 0.4 sec with the same system configuration as the previously proposed PI controlled system.