COOLING SYSTEM dT/dt BASED CONTROL

A system for heating or cooling a fuel cell circuit of a vehicle comprising:

• a fuel cell stack having a plurality of fuel cells, an inlet configured to receive a fluid, and an outlet configured to output the fluid;
• a temperature sensor configured to detect a current outlet temperature corresponding to a temperature of the fluid at the outlet;
• an actuator coupled to the fuel cell stack and configured to heat or cool the fluid;
• and
• an electronic control unit (ECU) coupled to the temperature sensor and configured to:
• receive a target outlet temperature that is based on a power request of the vehicle,
• determine a temperature rate of change corresponding to a desired rate of change of the current outlet temperature to achieve the target outlet temperature based on the target fuel cell temperature, and
• control the actuator to increase or decrease the current outlet temperature based on the temperature rate of change.

A method for heating or cooling a fuel cell circuit of a vehicle comprising:

• detecting, by a temperature sensor, a fluid temperature of a fluid within the fuel cell circuit;
• determining, by an electronic control unit (ECU), a target fuel cell temperature corresponding to a fuel cell stack and based on a power request of the vehicle;
• determining, by the ECU, a temperature rate of change corresponding to a desired rate of temperature change of a current fuel cell temperature of the fuel cell stack to achieve the target fuel cell temperature based on the target fuel cell temperature;
• and
• controlling, by the ECU, an actuator to increase or decrease the fluid temperature based on the temperature rate of change to cause the current fuel cell temperature to increase or decrease to the target fuel cell temperature.