A Comparative Study of FF-PID and Fuzzy-PID Control for Anode Pressure Stability in PEM Fuel Cells

The anode hydrogen supply subsystem is one of the fuel cell subsystems responsible for hydrogen supply and for the stability of the anode inlet pressure. This study focuses on the control of the anode hydrogen subsystem in an Open Cathode PEM Fuel Cell (OCPEMFC). The proposed control strategy is PID feedback control with compensation, where the compensation uses two different algorithms, namely empirical equation-based and fuzzy logic. The two different algorithms will be compared to determine which control system performs better. The manipulated variable is the hydrogen supply flow rate through the control valve. Experiments were conducted at a laboratory scale where the OCPEMFC was operated under dynamic load. Some performance indicators used in this paper include the tracking of the hydrogen supply flow rate, as well as the accuracy and stability of the anode inlet pressure under dynamic load. The experimental results prove that FF-PID performs slightly better than Fuzzy-PID, with a very small difference. However, Fuzzy-PID is proven to be more suitable for dynamic load applications that require smooth actuation and stack protection.