Energy Management Strategy of a Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicle Based on Wavelet Transform

Fuel cell vehicles have been considered as the next generation of automobiles since they could be the solution for a clean, safe and high efficiency transportation. However, their commercialization and mass production are restrained by the durability and the short lifetime of fuel cells compared to internal combustion engine vehicles. The hybridization with a high power density sources such as ultra-capacitors or batteries relieves the fuel cell from sudden power demands and therefore increase its lifetime. This paper presents dynamic models of fuel cell and supercapacitors. Then give a brief overview of the most used power management strategies in hybrid fuel cell vehicles. Then it proposes a smart energy management strategy based on wavelet transform. This strategy is suitable for analyzing transient signals in order to properly select the power source to drive the vehicle according to the power demand and to the environment. Initial investigation show promising results.