Towards safe operation for fuel cell vehicle: A novel energy management strategy based on the safety potential field theory

The hydrogen–electric hybrid power system (HEHPS), consisting of a fuel cell (FC) and a battery, jointly powers fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). The inherent differences in their operating characteristics increase the difficulty of coordinated control and significantly affect system safety. Existing strategies are limited in achieving effective safety management, primarily because conventional safety models rely on complex mathematical formulations of failure mechanisms for both FC and battery. Such models are computationally intensive and impractical for real-time safety optimization. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a safety potential field model based on potential field theory. By identifying and analyzing the safe and unsafe operating ranges of key variables, safety potential field models for FC and battery are established. Building on these models, a model predictive control (MPC)-based framework of energy management strategy for HEHPS is developed. Simulations under different initial states of charge (SoC) validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the safety of FC and battery is improved by 27.56% and 15%, respectively. The safety enhancement is particularly pronounced under low initial SoC.