Nonlinear Pressure Fluctuation Management for Ejector-Based Hydrogen Recirculation System in Large-Power Vehicular PEMFCs

The ejector-based hydrogen recirculation systems in vehicular proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been the research focus of fuel cell technology. However, the anode pressure fluctuations and nonlinear characteristics urgently need to be addressed under the varying operating conditions of the ejector-based hydrogen recirculation system. In this paper, an Adaptive Model Predictive Control strategy is proposed to stabilize anode pressure and smooth pressure fluctuations during current changes and purges. An ejector is designed and a nonlinear control model is established for the ejector-based hydrogen recirculation system of the 110 kW PEMFC. The proposed strategy achieves the mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.044 kPa and the root mean square error of 1.041 kPa in anode pressure management, outperforming traditional Model Predictive Control and Proportional-Integral-Derivative strategies. The hydrogen excess ratio exceeding 1.5 ensures compliance with the operational requirements of system. The experimental results with the pressure MAE of 0.482 kPa and the current fluctuation of ±0.7 A validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in practical applications.