Smooth second-order sliding mode control design of PEM fuel cell system

A novel smooth second-order sliding mode (SSOSM) control is applied to tackle the problem of PEM fuel cell system output voltage stabilization along with controlling oxygen excess ratio. The oxygen excess ratio is controlled in the inner control loop using PID while the regulation of output voltage is being treated in the outer loop through smooth second-order sliding mode control. The control is applied on the validated nonlinear model of the PEM fuel cell system. The simulation results show that the scheme with SSOSM control provides smoothness (chattering free) with robust performance and the fuel consumption minimization.