Temperature Optimization and Control of Optimal Performance for a 300W Open Cathode Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

AbstractA 300W open cathode proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is used as the dependable power source and lots of experiments are carried out to investigate the temperature characteristic of open cathode PEMFC. The effect of operating temperature on the output performance is analyzed through experiments data. An optimum operation temperature trajectory is obtained by a polynomial fitting method. Furthermore, an incremental PID control method is applied to design a PEMFC control system according to the characteristic of optimal operation temperature. The results verify that the optimum operation temperature trajectory with various loads can be tracked by proposed control system and the optimal output performance of PEMFC can be achieved