Energy optimization of a PEM fuel cell system by minimizing the parasitic consumption generated by the compressor

Air compressor which is employed to supply the oxygen to the cathode is a key component in the fuel cell system. It is also the main parasitic consumption, which consumes up to 15% of fuel cell generated power. How to find out the most efficiency operating point, thereby reduce the compressor consumption, is the research topic of this paper. Oxygen excess ratio connected both to the stack output power and compressor consumption is deemed as a adjustable parameter to optimize the net power. A optimal seeking approach is proposed to obtain the maximum output power. Compared with the lookup table method the proposed approach has the advantage of robustness eliminating affection by the working condition variations. The validity of this approach is proved by simulation results.