High temperature pem fuel cell systems, control and diagnostics

Abstract

Various system topologies are available when it comes to designing high temperature PEM fuel cell systems. Very simple system designs are possible using pure hydrogen, and more complex system designs present themselves when alternative fuels are desired, using reformer systems. The use of reformed fuels utilizes one of the main advantages of the high temperature PEM fuel cell: robustness to fuel quality and impurities. In order for such systems to provide efficient, robust, and reliable energy, proper control strategies are needed. The complexity and nonlinearity of many of the components in such systems allow the development of both simple linear and also advanced fuzzy logic and neural network controllers able to adapt system performance to the ever changing conditions which the systems operate in over their entire lifetime.