Temperature Control for a 5 kW Water-Cooled PEM Fuel Cell System for a Household Application

Temperature control is indispensable for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems to ensure its safety and efficiency when working continuously. To control the fluctuation of stack temperature within a narrow range around the optimum operating temperature, a fuzzy controller is designed and applied to the cooling pump of a 5-kW water-cooled polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system. The stack temperature and its derivation are considered as fuzzy inputs, and coolant pump voltage is chosen as the control variable. A comprehensive water-cooled PEMFC system simulation model is developed first to validate the efficiency of the proposed fuzzy controller. Three other controllers (on/off controller, state feedback controller, and PID controller) are introduced as comparisons to highlight effectiveness of this proposed fuzzy controller by demonstrating its suitability in fuel cell stack temperature regulation. In addition, the robustness of the proposed system is demonstrated by using different parameter perturbations. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy controlled fuel cell system is verified by real experiment. Simulation results and experimental data demonstrate that the proposed fuzzy controller can manage the stack temperature in real-time effectively. Stack temperature can fluctuate within 2 °C with the application of fuzzy control.