Research Project

MICAPEM: Parameter estimation, diagnosis and control for the improvement of efficiency and durability of PEM fuel cells

Type

National Project

Start Date

01/01/2016

End Date

31/12/2019

Project Code

DPI2015-69286-C3-2-R

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Staff

Project Description

The main objective of the project is to develop controllers that operate the PEM fuel cell based systems with maximum efficiency and minimum degradation. Additionally, the properties of these controlled systems for stationary Combined Heat & Power (CH&P) applications will be shown. Specifically, the tasks of the project include the design, development and implementation of the control system of a CH&P high temperature PEM fuel cell based unit that will be manufactured and integrated to a prototype home by the other two partners of the coordinated project.

To achieve the control objectives, the project tasks are separated into two levels: the fuel cell level and the whole generation system level, which includes the necessary elements for the energy management and use (batteries and/or supercapacitors, power converters, heat exchangers). For the improvement of the fuel cell controllers, models that take into account new mechanisms of efficiency loss and degradation, parameter estimation systems and observers will be developed. On the other hand, discretised high order EDP models will be used and therefore, model order reduction techniques will be used for their analytical treatment in the controllers design. Based on these models, robust multivariable controllers with unified management of reactants, heat and water will be designed, implemented and validated. These controllers will be able to ponderate the efficiency and durability objectives, which are not always compatible. At the whole generation system level, electrical power and heat management strategies will be determined and high level controllers will be designed, implemented and validated. These controllers will rely on information from all the subsystems, including the fuel cell. Taking advantage of the computational capacities, diagnosis and parameter estimation mechanisms will be run in parallel with the control algorithm in order to adapt the control objectives to the state of the different elements.

Project Publications

Journal Publications

  • J. Na, Y. Xing and R. Costa. Adaptive estimation of time-varying parameters with application to roto-magnet plant. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, 51(2): 731-741, 2021.

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  • Y. Xing, J. Na and R. Costa. Real-time adaptive parameter estimation for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 15(11): 6048-6057, 2019.

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  • M.G. Carignano, V. Roda, R. Costa, L. Valiño, A. Lozano and F. Barreras. Assessment of energy management in a fuel cell/battery hybrid vehicle. IEEE Access, 7(1): 16110-16122, 2019.

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  • J.L. Sampietro, V. Puig and R. Costa. Optimal sizing of storage elements for a vehicle based on fuel cells, supercapacitors, and batteries. Energies, 12(5): 925, 2019.

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  • U. Raveendran Nair, R. Costa and A. Baños. Reset control for DC-DC converters: an experimental application. IEEE Access, 7: 128487-128497, 2019.

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  • G.A. Ramos and R. Costa. Comparison of different repetitive control architectures: synthesis and comparison. Application to VSI converters. Electronics, 7(12): 1-19, 2018.

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  • R. Busqué, R. Torres, J. Grau, V. Roda and A.P. Husar. Mathematical modeling, numerical simulation and experimental comparison of the desorption process in a metal hydride hydrogen storage system. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 43(35): 16929-16940, 2018.

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  • R. Costa, N. Carrero, S. Dormido and E. Fossas. Teaching, analyzing, designing and interactively simulating sliding mode control. IEEE Access, 6(1): 16783-16794, 2018.

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  • P.G. Rullo, R. Costa, V. Roda and D. Feroldi. Energy management strategy for a bioethanol isolated hybrid system: Simulations and experiments. Energies, 11(6): 1362, 2018.

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  • M.G. Carignano, R. Costa, V. Roda, N.M. Nigro, S. Junco and D. Feroldi. Energy management strategy for fuel cell-supercapacitor hybrid vehicles based on prediction of energy demand. Journal of Power Sources, 360: 419-433, 2017.

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  • M.L. Sarmiento-Carnevali, M. Serra and C. Batlle. Distributed parameter model-based control of water activity and concentration of reactants in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42(42): 26389-26407, 2017.

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  • M. Serra, C. Ocampo-Martínez, M. Li and J. Llorca. Model predictive control for ethanol steam reformers with membrane separation. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42(4): 1949-1961, 2017.

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  • J.A. Luna, E. Usai, A.P. Husar and M. Serra. Enhancing the efficiency and lifetime of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell using nonlinear model predictive control with nonlinear observation. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 64(8): 6649-6659, 2017.

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  • R. Busqué, R. Torres, J. Grau, V. Roda and A.P. Husar. Effect of metal hydride properties in hydrogen absorption through 2D-axisymmetric modeling and experimental testing in storage canisters. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42(30): 19114-19125, 2017.

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  • J.A. Luna, E. Usai, A.P. Husar and M. Serra. Nonlinear observation in fuel cell systems: A comparison between disturbance estimation and high-order sliding-mode techniques. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 41(43): 19737-19748, 2016.

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  • J.A. Luna, S. Jemei, N. Yousfi, A.P. Husar, M. Serra and D. Hissel. Nonlinear predictive control for durability enhancement and efficiency improvement in a fuel cell power system. Journal of Power Sources, 328: 250-261, 2016.

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  • S. Strahl and R. Costa. Model-based analysis for the thermal management of open-cathode proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems concerning efficiency and stability. Journal of Process Control, 47: 201–212, 2016.

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Conference Publications

  • J.C. Gómez, J.K. Dombrovski, M. Serra and A.P. Husar. PEM automotive stack model with experimental validation, 7th Iberian Symposium on Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries, 2019, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 238-241.

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  • U. Raveendran Nair, R. Costa and German A. Ramos. An adaptive disturbance rejection control scheme for voltage regulation in DC micro-grids, 20th IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology, 2019, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 583-588, IEEE.

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  • Y. Xing, J. Na and R. Costa. Adaptive online parameter estimation algorithm of PEM fuel cells, 18th European Control Conference, 2019, Naples, Italy, pp. 441-446.

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  • Y. Xing, R. Costa and J. Na. Stability analysis of solid oxide fuel cell systems, 7th Iberian Symposium on Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries, 2019, Barcelona, Spain.

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  • Y. Xing, J. Na and R. Costa. Parameter estimation algorithm of H-100 PEM fuel cell, 7th Iberian Symposium on Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries, 2019, Barcelona, Spain.

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  • V. Sanz, R. Costa and C. Batlle. Distributed high temperature PEM fuel cell modelling, 7th Iberian Symposium on Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries, 2019, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 1-3.

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  • U. Raveendran Nair and R. Costa. An analysis of energy storage system interaction in a multi objective model predictive control based energy management in DC microgrid, 24th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, 2019, Zaragoza, pp. 739-746.

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  • E. Lerma, R. Costa, R. Griñó, C. Sanchis and S. Dormido. On teaching digital control systems in a generic engineering degree, 12th IFAC Symposium on Advances in Control Education, 2019, Philadelphia, USA, Vol 52:9 of IFAC-PapersOnLine, pp. 103-108.

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  • A. Cecilia and R. Costa. Observador de alta ganancia con zona muerta para pilas de combustible PEM, XL Jornadas de Automática, 2019, Ferrol, Spain, pp. 382-388.

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  • A. Cifuentes López, A.P. Husar, V. Roda, M. Morales, L. Bernadet, M. Torrell and M. Serra. Modelling of solid oxide electrolizer and hydrogen leak estimation, 7th Iberian Symposium on Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries, 2019, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 57-59.

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  • J.A. Luna and R. Costa. Chattering free high order sliding mode observer for estimation of liquid water fraction in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell, 17th European Control Conference, 2018, Cyprus, pp. 1226-1231.

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  • U. Raveendran Nair, R. Costa and A. Baños. Reset control of boost converters, 2018 American Control Conference, 2018, Milwaukee, USA, pp. 553-558.

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  • X. Corbella, V. Roda, R. Torres and A.P. Husar. Design of an ejector for a hydrogen recirculation system for a PEM fuel cell, 2018 European Hydrogen Energy Conference, 2018, Malaga, Spain, pp. 1-2.

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  • J.M. Díaz, S. Dormido and R. Costa. The use of interactivity in the controller design: Loop shaping versus closed-loop shaping, 3rd IFAC Conference on Advances in Proportional-Integral-Derivative Control, 2018, Ghent, Belgium, Vol 51(4) of IFAC Papers Online, pp. 334-339.

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  • Y. Xing, J. Na and R. Costa. Composite PID control with unknown dynamics estimator for rotomagnet plant. , 3rd IFAC Conference on Advances in Proportional-Integral-Derivative Control, 2018, Ghent, Belgium, Vol 51(4) of IFAC Papers Online, pp. 817-822.

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  • U. Raveendran Nair, R. Costa and A. Baños. Grid voltage regulation using a reset PI+CI controller for energy storage systems. , 3rd IFAC Conference on Advances in Proportional-Integral-Derivative Control, 2018, Ghent, Belgium, Vol 51(4) of IFAC Papers Online, pp. 226-231.

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  • V. Sanz, R. Costa and G.A. Ramos. Different architectures to develop repetitive controllers, 20th IFAC World Congress, 2017, Toulouse, France, Vol 50 of IFAC Papers Online, pp. 13048-13413, Elsevier.

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  • V. Sanz and T. Namerikawa. Hierarchical and cooperative model predictive control of electrical grids by using overlapping information, 1st IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, 2017, Kohala Coast, HW, USA, pp. 2144-2149.

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  • U. Reija, R. Torres and M. Serra. Modeling a high temperature PEM fuel cell focusing on its thermal behavior, 6th Iberian Symposium on Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries, 2017, Porto, Portugal.

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  • F. Serri, M. Serra and R. Costa. Experimental thermal model of a high temperature fuel cell stack, 6th Iberian Symposium on Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries, 2017, Porto, Portugal.

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  • R. Costa and S. Strahl. Temperature control of open-cathode PEM fuel cells, 20th IFAC World Congress, 2017, Toulouse, France, Vol 50 of IFAC Papers Online, pp. 11088-11093, Elsevier.

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  • R. Costa and J.A. Luna. Observación de la fracción de agua líquida en pilas de combustible tipo PEM de cátodo abierto, XXXVIII Jornadas de Automática, 2017, Gijón, Spain, pp. 108-114, CEA.

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  • V. Sanz, R. Costa and C. Batlle. Combined heat and power using high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells for comfort applications, XV Simposio CEA de Ingeniería de Control, 2017, Salamanca, pp. 29-33.

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  • V. Roda, D. Feroldi and J.C. Gomez. Identification of PEM fuel cells based on support vector regression and orthonormal base, 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control, 2016, Buenos Aires, pp. 173-178.

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  • J.A. Luna, E. Usai, A.P. Husar and M. Serra. Observation of the electrochemically active surface area in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell, 42nd Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, 2016, Florence, pp. 5483-5488.

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  • E. Pérez, M. Serra, C. Ocampo-Martínez and J. Llorca. Nonlinear model predictive control for hydrogen production in an ethanol steam reformer with membrane separation, 2016 IEEE Multi-Conference on Systems and Control, 2016, Buenos Aires, Argentina, pp. 1155-1160.

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