A real-time optimization control strategy for power management in fuel cell/battery hybrid power sources

The power management strategy can greatly affect the fuel economy of hybrid power systems. This work presents an optimization based power management strategy of hybrid fuel cell power sources during real-time operation. In this approach, local optimization strategy is adopted because it doesn't need the priori knowledge of the future power demand. Every step, the current power demand is measured and the real-time optimal power distribution is determined by maximizing the efficiency of the hybrid system. Simulation and experimental results are presented to show that this real-time power management optimization strategy is feasible and can provide good fuel economy. © 2012 IEEE.