On Maximizing the Steady-State Efficiency of a Multi-Stack Fuel Cell System

The aim of this paper is to present an efficiency oriented analytical solution to the power distribution in a multi-stack fuel cell system and compare it to other existing solutions based on optimization and control theory. The presented solution is based on an optimization problem solved analytically using the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker approach to non-linear programming. The fuel cell model required for the analytical solution is simple but provides results similar to those obtained with numerical optimization and a more accurate fuel cell model based on experimental data. Compared to a power distribution method originating from control theory, this solution provides a higher average efficiency over the operation range of the system.