A study on a hydrogen injection control method for fuel cell engines based on proportional valve polling

Abstract

As the core component of fuel cell engine hydrogen supply systems, hydrogen injection solenoid valves suffer from high switching frequency, excessive power consumption and shortened service life under traditional equal-distribution control, which raises system failure risks and maintenance costs. To solve these problems, this paper puts forward a polling control strategy based on PI closed-loop pressure regulation. The stack inlet hydrogen pressure is sampled in real time to calculate the overall hydrogen injection duty cycle, which is evenly assigned to six solenoid valves via sequential allocation and cyclic rotation to balance valve workload and cut single-valve actuation frequency and heat loss. Co-simulation of Simulink and AMESim is conducted to compare three control modes, and a durability test bench is built for experimental validation. The Parker model is adopted to evaluate valve life attenuation. Simulation and test results reveal that the proposed polling method effectively suppresses hydrogen pressure fluctuation under low-flow conditions and improves control accuracy. It reduces valve switching times, power consumption and operating temperature, slowing insulation and seal aging. Durability tests show its first-failure time and total service life exceed the equal-distribution mode by over 2.5 times with fewer faulty valves. This strategy optimizes pressure control and component durability, offering great engineering application value for long-life commercial fuel cell vehicles.