Robust optimal control strategies for a hybrid fuel cell power management system

In this paper several optimal control strategies are proposed for the power management subsystem of a hybrid fuel cell/supercapacitor power generation system. The control strategies are based on different control configurations involving the power converters associated to the hybrid source. Given certain desired performances, Linear Matrix Inequalities methods are used to solve the controller design problem that is written as an optimization problem with inequalities constraints. The solution to the optimization problem yields a simple PID controller with H_∞ desired performance. For the several control strategies proposed, robustness is a primary issue. Time simulations and robustness analysis shows the effectiveness of the proposed strategies when compared with the classic control strategies used for this type of hybrid power generation system.