Development of a Fuel Cell Energy Controller Design for an Electric Vehicle Engine via a PID-PSO Robust Control Algorithm

Considering the problems associated with the use of traditional vehicles with an internal combustion engine (ICE), which are the decrease in conventional fuel, its limitations, and pollution caused by the combustion of this fuel, in addition to the high cost of extracting and producing this type of fuel, scientists and vehicle manufacturers have decided to reduce the dependency on conventional vehicles with (ICE). In particular, the focus nowadays is on developing hybrid and fully electric cars as alternative solutions. To this end, some vehicles are powered by electrical energy stored in batteries, while others depend on fuel cells. This paper focuses on proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells that rely mainly on hydrogen gas and how to control the gas entering the cell using an online PSO-PID controller. The simulation results show the controller’s effectiveness in terms of controlling the voltage amount supplied to the car and maintaining this voltage constant during different load currents with zero voltage error and with no oscillations. In addition, an off-line PSO-PID controller is used to obtain the various voltage levels, including (13.7 volts) needed for the same electric vehicle accessories and devices based on the buck converter type, where the output voltage response stabilizes in 0.2 msec., and the error voltage is approximately equal to zero.