Comparative study of energy management systems for a hybrid fuel cell electric vehicle- A novel mutative fuzzy logic controller to prolong fuel cell lifetime

Hybrid fuel cell battery electric vehicles require complex energy management systems (EMS) in order to operate effectively. Poor EMS can result in a hybrid system that has low efficiency and a high rate of degradation of the fuel cell and battery pack. Many different types of EMS have been reported in the literature, such as equivalent consumption mini-misation strategy and fuzzy logic controllers, which typically focus on a single objective optimisations, such as minimisation of H-2 usage. Different vehicle and system specifica-tions make the comparison of EMSs difficult and can often lead to misleading claims about system performance. This paper aims to compare different EMSs, against a range of per-formance metrics such as charge sustaining ability and fuel cell degradation, using a common modelling framework developed in MATLAB/Simulink - the Electric Vehicle Simulation tool-Kit (EV-SimKit). A novel fuzzy logic controller is also presented which mutates the output membership function depending on fuel cell degradation to prolong fuel cell lifetime -the Mutative Fuzzy Logic Controller (MFLC). It was found that while certain EMSs may perform well at reducing H-2 consumption, this may have a significant impact on fuel cell degradation, dramatically reducing the fuel cell lifetime. How the behaviour of common EMS results in fuel cell degradation is also explored. Finally, by mutating the fuzzy logic membership functions, the MFLC was predicted to extend fuel cell lifetime by up to 32.8%. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.

Automated summary

Hybrid fuel cell battery electric vehicles require complex energy management systems (EMS) to operate effectively. This paper compares different EMSs using a common modelling framework and evaluates their performance in terms of charge sustaining ability and fuel cell degradation. It is found that certain EMSs can effectively reduce H-2 consumption but may lead to decreased fuel cell lifetime. Additionally, a novel fuzzy logic controller is introduced that adjusts its control strategy based on fuel cell degradation, extending the fuel cell lifetime.