Constrained Predictive Controller Design Based on Fuel Exhaustion and Thermal Constraints of A 5 kW SOFC Stack

Considering two temperature layers model of 5 kW SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) stack not only dramatically reduces complexity of the model, but also shows the higher precision, which should be preferred in the controller design. Taylor series for the model are adopted, and then based on the static output power point, the constrained predictive controller is designed considering the fuel exhaustion and thermal constraints. The temperature and its gradient, output power, and fuel exhaustion are emphatically analyzed, which can ensure the fast power tracking and thermal safety simultaneously. Besides, the control standards of the fuel exhaustion show more rigorous compared to operating safety, which is comprehensively considered during controller design. The result shows that although power tracking process accelerated with the increase of the current regulation rate, the risk coefficient of the operating safety is increasing too.