Maximum efficiency point tracking control for fuel cell power systems

The operation efficiency of fuel cell power systems varies largely according to their operation conditions, and there exists a unique maximum efficiency point (MEP). The objective of this paper is to propose a novel control strategy to maximize the efficiency of fuel cell power generation. A maximum efficiency point tracking (MEPT) controller is designed based on extremum seeking control algorithm. This closed-loop, real-time and non-model based control methodology is able to guarantee that the extremum is achieved under rapidly changing operation conditions, which is not acceptable by traditional optimization methods, such as perturbation and observe algorithm. The proposed system is simulated in SIMULINK/MATLAB environment to verify the performance of MEPT controller. The system shows acceptable response time and stability under changing operation conditions.