Fuel Cell Hardware-in-Loop for PEM Fuel Cell Systems

Hardware-in-Loop (HiL) methodology is well established in the automotive industry, where the hardware element is typically a controller and the HiL technique is applied to develop and debug control algorithms for automotive drive systems. In contrast, this paper is focused on the use of a new HiL methodology (Fuel Cell HiL) for experimental fuel cell evaluation. In this methodology a fuel cell is experimentally evaluated within the context of a fuel cell system design, an application (e.g., a fuel cell vehicle), and for a typical use pattern (e.g., a standard drive cycle).