Josh Golbert's PhD Research Seminar

Josh Golbert will be giving his PhD research presentation to the Chemical Engineering Department on 14th June at 12:30 in Auditorium 6. The seminar is entitled: "Model-based Control of Fuel Cells."

This seminar describes a model-based controller of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, and focuses on the crucial issue of how to control the fuel cell to ensure stability and acceptable response time for the power demand over the entire operating range. Analysis of the process model shows that the effective gain of the process undergoes a sign change in the normal operating range of the fuel cell, indicating that a linear controller with integral action cannot stabilize a fuel cell.  Consequently, a nonlinear model-predictive-controller based on a simplified model has been developed, enabling the use of optimal control to satisfy power demands robustly.  In addition, this controller has been used to improve overall efficiency of a fuel cell operating under dynamic conditions. Using multiple control variables the controller takes advantage of all the degrees of freedom to simultaneously satisfy power demands while optimizing the fuel efficiency of the entire system

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