Energy Management Strategy Development for Fuel Cell Hybrid Loaders

Abstract

The application of fuel cell powered loaders will be an attractive option in the future. Compared with passenger cars and commercial vehicles, the operating conditions of loaders are complex and varying as the poor working environment, which pose a great challenge to the energy management problem of fuel cell hybrid loaders (FCHLs). This paper presents four energy management strategies (EMSs) based on dynamic programming, Pontryagin's minimum principle, equivalent consumption minimization strategy, and model predictive control for FCHL comprising fuel cell and supercapacitors. The basic principles of the proposed approaches are described. Hydrogen consumption, fuel cell durability, and SoC maintenance were considered in the cost functions. Simulations are performed in the MATLAB environment under representative cycles of a wheel loader. Simulation results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed EMSs.