Optimal control in the power management of fuel cell hybrid vehicles

Several types of power management strategies have been developed to improve the fuel economy of fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHVs). Optimal control based on the Minimum Principle provides the necessary optimality conditions which minimize fuel consumption and optimize the power distribution between power sources while the vehicle is being driven. In the optimal control scheme, the costate is an equivalent parameter between fuel usage and electric usage. The optimal trajectory of the costate can be derived from one of the necessary conditions. In this paper, an optimal control scheme based on the Minimum Principle is proposed for cases without a state constraint and for those with a state constraint. The conditions in which a variable costate can be replaced with a constant costate are presented. The simulation results with constant costates are compared to those with variable costates in order to prove that variable costates can be replaced with constant costates when using the proposed optimal control scheme.