Optimal energy management control scheme for fuel cell hybrid vehicle

This paper presents an analysis of energy management strategies (EMS) applied to a hybrid power sources architecture composed of fuel cell and supercapacitor for electric vehicle application. An EMS based on optimal control theory is discussed and compared to the EMS based on power frequency separation that allows power load frequency decomposition. Firstly, the electrical model of the fuel cell and supercapacitor power sources is given. Then, the EMS based on optimal control is presented, which has as objective to minimize hydrogen consumption and simultaneously prolonging fuel cell stack lifetime. Thus, these two strategies are compared in terms of hydrogen consumption and state of the charge of the supercapacitor pack. Therefore, the simulation results show the effectiveness of the strategy based on optimal control.