This paper addresses a series of issues in the thermal management system of
proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) during power fluctuations, such as
slow system response, insufficient stability, significant temperature
fluctuations, and the complexity of coupled control between coolant flow and air
flow. A solution is proposed by designing separate Linear Active Disturbance
Rejection Controllers (LADRC) for the coolant flow and air flow control loops. A
one-dimensional model of the PEMFC thermal management system was established on
the LMS AMESIM simulation platform, combined with a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle
model and a driver model, fully considering various influencing factors such as
vehicle power fluctuations and driver demands. Subsequently, the LADRC control
algorithm was developed on the Matlab-Simulink platform, and a co-simulation
analysis was performed to compare the control effects of PID control and LADRC
under both custom operating conditions and the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC)
conditions.
The simulation results show that with the LADRC controller, the temperature of
the coolant entering the stack can be stably maintained at 65°C, and the LADRC
controller can quickly respond to temperature changes during drastic condition
variations. Under NEDC conditions, when the power rapidly increases, the peak
temperature of the coolant exiting the stack reaches 70.5°C, which is 3.55°C
lower than the temperature under traditional PID control. Additionally, the
fluctuation of temperature difference of the system is kept within 7°C.