A thermal equivalent circuit is presented in this paper for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. In order to control a temperature in the fuel cell system, a thermal equivalent circuit model for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells and its control algorithms are presented. By defining temperature as a state, the energy balance can be established so that feedback control algorithm can be directly utilized. The details of the design of the thermal equivalent circuit model and its control scheme are provided in the paper. The proposed thermal equivalent circuit model was analyzed through Bode plots. With the help of Bode plot results, the proposed thermal circuit model for PEM fuel cells can be useed in designing an appropriate controller.