Integration of a Multi-Stack Fuel Cell System in Microgrids: A Solution Based on Model Predictive Control

Antonio José Calderón, Francisco José Vivas, Francisca Segura and José Manuel Andújar
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Antonio José Calderón: Department of Electrical, Electronics Engineering and Automatic, Campus Universitario, University of Extremadura, Av. de Elvas, s/n, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
Francisco José Vivas: CITES (Centro de Investigación en Tecnología, Energía y Sostenibilidad), Campus El Carmen, University of Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain
Francisca Segura: CITES (Centro de Investigación en Tecnología, Energía y Sostenibilidad), Campus El Carmen, University of Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain
José Manuel Andújar: CITES (Centro de Investigación en Tecnología, Energía y Sostenibilidad), Campus El Carmen, University of Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-24

Abstract: This paper proposes a multi-objective model predictive control (MPC) designed for the power management of a multi-stack fuel cell (FC) system integrated into a renewable sources-based microgrid. The main advantage of MPC is the fact that it allows the current timeslot to be optimized while taking future timeslots into account. The multi-objective function solves the problem related to the power dispatch at time that includes criteria to reduce the multi-stack FC degradation, operating and maintenance costs, as well as hydrogen consumption. Regarding the scientific literature, the novelty of this paper lies in the proposal of a generalized MPC controller for a multi-stack FC that can be used independently of the number of stacks that make it up. Although all the stacks that make up the modular FC system are identical, their levels of degradation, in general, will not be. Thus, over time, each stack can present a different behavior. Therefore, the power control strategy cannot be based on an equal distribution according to the nominal power of each stack. On the contrary, the control algorithm should take advantage of the characteristics of the multi-stack FC concept, distributing operation across all the stacks regarding their capacity to produce power/energy, and optimizing the overall performance.

Keywords: PEM fuel cell; multi-stack; model predictive control; multi-objective; microgrid (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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