Application of Nonlinear Predictive Control Based on RBF Network Predictive Model in MCFC Plant

This paper described a nonlinear model predictive controller for regulating a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). A detailed mechanism model of output voltage of a MCFC was presented at first. However, this model was too complicated to be used in a control system. Consequently, an off line radial basis function (RBF) network was introduced to build a nonlinear predictive model. And then, the optimal control sequences were obtained by applying golden mean method. The models and controller have been realized in the MATLAB environment. Simulation results indicate the proposed algorithm exhibits satisfying control effect even when the current densities vary largely.