Fuzzy-Based Energy Management Control: Design of a Battery Auxiliary Power Unit for Remote Applications

This article presents the analysis and design of a hybrid fuel cell battery auxiliary power unit (APU) for remote applications where a fuel cell is the main energy source, operating for slow power dynamics while a battery or a supercapacitor compensates the fast transient peak power requirements. A fuzzy logic-based control has been implemented in the energy management performance control to impose that the fuel cell operates most of the time in its best operating point and maintains the battery state of charge in its best operating range, which contributes to a longer lifetime, minimizes maintenance requirements, and approaches the best fuel-to-electricity system efficiency.