Adaptive Coordinated Control for Nonlinear PEM Fuel Cell Air Supply Systems

Simultaneous control of the oxygen excess ratio (OER) and cathode pressure is crucial in ensuring the dynamic performance and durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). However, it is challenging to perform coordinated multivariable control due to the complex nonlinearity and strong coupling characteristics of the air supply model. Most existing results rely on system linearization techniques, which omit important system dynamics. Moreover, parametric uncertainties caused by dynamic operating conditions could also affect controller performance. In this article, a novel adaptive backstepping control scheme is proposed for coordinated regulation of air flow rate and cathode pressure. Different from existing approaches, our proposed scheme eliminates the necessity for linearization, and allows all model parameters to be uncertain. Novel adaptive laws that leverage prior system information improve the adaptability of the proposed strategy. Experimental results on a hardware-in-the-loop platform and an air supply platform demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.