Review of System Integration and Control of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) as power systems have been widely studied in various application fields because of advantages such as cleanness and high efficiency with great progress having been made in the past decades both technologically and fundamentally. Despite the many promising developments however, technical challenges remain in terms of performance and lifespans. This is because PEMFCs are complex systems composed of various components and factors such as material property, engineering design and operating conditions can interact with each other to affect lifespans and performance. To fully understand the coupling effects of different factors on the overall performance and durability of PEMFCs, this review will comprehensively present existing research based on four aspects, including fuel cell stacks, subsystems, system integration and control strategy optimizations. First, this review will outline fuel cell stacks with their multi-physics modeling and engineering design to provide an understanding of the operating mechanisms inside PEMFC reactors. Following this, the progress of research into the structure and function of each subsystem is summarized and integration schemes for different applications are briefly presented. Finally, various control strategies for individual PEMFC subsystems to optimize energy management and dynamic performance are discussed. The Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been widely studied in various application fields because of its advantages of cleanness and high efficiency as a power system. Great progress has been made in the past decades on both technological and fundamental research of PEMFCs. Despite many promising developments, some technical challenges in performance and lifetimes remain to be overcome. The PEMFC is rather a complex system. It is composed of various parts, and factors like material properties, engineering designs and operating conditions are often interacted with each other and therefore affect its lifetime and performance. In order to fully understand the coupling effects of different factors on the overall performance and durability, this work comprehensively reviews the existing research work from four aspects: the fuel cell stack, the subsystem, the system integration and the optimizing control strategy. Firstly, the fuel cell stack with its multi-physics modeling and engineering design is outlined aimed to understand the operating mechanism inside the reactor. Then the progress of research on the structure and functions of each subsystem is summarized. Furthermore, the integration schemes for different applications are briefly presented. Lastly, various control strategies of each subsystem are introduced in order to optimize the PEMFC’s energy management and its dynamic performance.