A PEMFC hybrid electric vehicle real time control system

In recent years, environmental friendly technologies and alternative energy solutions have drawn a lot of public attention due to the global energy crisis and pollution issues. Fuel cell (FC), a technology invented about the same time as the internal combustion (IC) engine, is now the focus of the automotive industry again. The fuel cell vehicle (FCV) has zero emission and its efficiency is significantly higher than the conventional IC engine power vehicles.

Among a variety of FCV technologies, proton exchange membrane (PEM) FC vehicle appears to be far more attractive and mature. The prototype PEMFC vehicle has been developed and demonstrated to the public by nearly all the major automotive manufacturers in recent years.

However, to the interest of the public research, publications and documentations on the PEMFC vehicle technology are rarely available due to its proprietary nature, which essentially makes it a secured technology. This dissertation demonstrates a real world application of a PEMFC hybrid electric vehicle. Through presenting the vehicle design concept, developing the real time control system and generating generic operation principles, this dissertation targets establishing the public knowledge base on this new technology.

A complete PEMFC hybrid electric vehicle design, including vehicle components layout, process flow diagram, real time control system architecture, subsystem structures and control algorithms, is presented in order to help understand the whole vehicle system. The design concept is validated through the vehicle demonstration. Generic operating principles are established along with the validation process, which helps populate this emerging technology. Thereafter, further improvements and future research directions are discussed