Development of Predictive Model based Control Scheme for a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) Process

To improve availability and performance of fuel cells, the operating temperature of a molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) stack should be strictly maintained within a specified operation range and an efficient control technique should be employed to meet this objective. While most of modern control strategies are based on process models, many existing models for a MCFC process are not ready to be applied in synthesis and operation of control systems. In this study, auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) model, least square support vector machine (LSSVM) model and artificial neural network (ANN) model for the MCFC system are developed based on input-output operating data. Among these models, the ARMA model showed the best tracking performance. A model predictive control (MPC) method for the operation of a MCFC process is developed based on the proposed ARMA model. For the purpose of comparison, a MPC scheme based on the linearized rigorous model for a MCFC process is developed. Results of numerical simulations show that MPC based on the ARMA model exhibits better control performance than that based on the linearized rigorous model.