& mu; AND H & INFIN; OPTIMIZATION CONTROL BASED ON OPTIMAL OXYGEN EXCESS RATIO FOR THE PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL (PEMFC)

The fuel cell (FC) is a new technology for large-scale power gen-eration. Providing of fast and sufficient air concentration in the FC cathode is a key to prevent the oxygen starvation and extend the life cycle of the FC. The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) parameter variations and output current disturbances can significantly influence on the airflow subsys-tem performance. For this purpose, this paper addresses the robust airflow control synthesis of the PEMFC based on the & mu; and H. control techniques. The presented advanced controllers are designed to regulate the oxygen con-centration in the FC cathode on the desired value. Such robust controllers are tuned to guarantee PEMFC performance against parameter variations and output current disturbances. Then, the obtained results are compared with the optimal PID controller tuned by the well-known internal model control (IMC) method. Simulation results show that in comparison of the IMC-based PID controller, the applied robust control methodologies are more effective. The designed & mu; and H. controllers efficiently provide the required airflow of the PEMFC on the desired value, and avoid the oxygen starvation. Furthermore, due to the structured type of uncertainties, the & mu; controller keeps the airflow on the desired value quite better than the H. controller.