Modelling and control of vehicle integrated thermal management system of PEM fuel cell vehicle

An effective vehicle integrated thermal management (VITM) system is critical for the safe and efficient operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) vehicles. The objectives of this paper are to model the VITM system and develop control strategies for the VITM system of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). To do that, the VITM system model, based on the heating principle of each key component and heat transfer theory, was developed in KULI. The VITM system includes 5 loops for a prototype of range extender sport utility vehicle (SUV), which is powered by a 36 kW PEMFC stack and an 11 kW h Li-ion battery. Then, three steady-state and two transient working conditions of FCVs were selected to simulate. The results showed that the temperatures of all components were controlled within the required ranges, indicating that the VITM system achieves relatively positive cooling capacity and satisfies the requirements of thermal management control effect. It showed that the developed VITM system could analyse the impact on one loop and the integrated impact on the whole vehicle when the thermal state of one or several components changes, which is useful to guide the VITM system design of the PEMFC vehicles.