A cold start mode of proton exchange membrane fuel cell based on current control

In this study, a mathematical model is established to simulate the cold start of fuel cell, including the calculation of the temperature distribution and heat exchange. Moreover, a novel cold-start mode is designed and compared with the constant and linear current cold-start modes. It uses the ice volume and heat absorbed by the membrane as fuzzy control inputs and outputs current density. Compared with other modes at 263 K, the cold startup time is shortened by 25.6–41.6 s, and the ice volume fraction is reduced by 29.4%–31.8%. Only the proposed mode achieves a successful cold start at a lower temperature. Also, the proposed mode has better thermal behavior, as indicated by the temperature distribution diagrams. Furthermore, to avoid performance degradation caused by cold starts, an inertia link is added to the controller, so that the current amplitude is reduced by 7.98%, and the maximum change rate by 57.44%.