An electric powertrain modelling of a fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle and development of a power distribution algorithm using H∞ control

Abstract

This paper presents an electric powertrain model of a parallel-type fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle (FCHEV) and its robust H∞ controller for efficient power distribution between a fuel cell and a battery. The electric powertrain of the parallel-type FCHEV is composed of a fuel cell stack system, a d.c.-to-d.c. converter, and a battery. The fuel cell stack system is connected to the battery through the d.c.-to-d.c. converter, which is a key component for power distribution between the fuel cell and the battery. In this study, the electric powertrain model of the FCHEV was derived from the dynamic differential equations of the equivalent-circuit model that describes the electric powertrain. Using this model, the robust H∞ controller was designed to control the power distribution between the fuel cell and the battery efficiently. Finally, the results of driving-cycle simulation verified the performance of the proposed robust H∞ controller.