Real-Time Implementation of a New MPPT Control Method for a DC-DC Boost Converter Used in a PEM Fuel Cell Power System

Abstract

settings Open AccessArticle Real-Time Implementation of a New MPPT Control Method for a DC-DC Boost Converter Used in a PEM Fuel Cell Power System by Mohamed Derbeli 1,2,* [OrcID] , Oscar Barambones 1 [OrcID] , Mohammed Yousri Silaa 1 [OrcID] and Cristian Napole 1 [OrcID] 1 Engineering School of Vitoria, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Nieves Cano 12, 1006 Vitoria, Spain 2 National Engineering School of Gabes, University of Gabes, Omar Ibn-Elkhattab, 6029 Gabes, Tunisia * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Actuators 2020, 9(4), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/act9040105 Received: 30 August 2020 / Revised: 25 September 2020 / Accepted: 10 October 2020 / Published: 16 October 2020 (This article belongs to the Section High Torque/Power Density Actuators) Download PDF Browse Figures Abstract Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells demonstrate potential as a comprehensive and general alternative to fossil fuel. They are also considered to be the energy source of the twenty-first century. However, fuel cell systems have non-linear output characteristics because of their input variations, which causes a significant loss in the overall system output. Thus, aiming to optimize their outputs, fuel cells are usually coupled with a controlled electronic actuator (DC-DC boost converter) that offers highly regulated output voltage. High-order sliding mode (HOSM) control has been effectively used for power electronic converters due to its high tracking accuracy, design simplicity, and robustness. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method based on a combination of reference current estimator (RCE) and high-order prescribed convergence law (HO-PCL) for a PEM fuel cell power system. The proposed MPPT method is implemented practically on a hardware 360W FC-42/HLC evaluation kit. The obtained experimental results demonstrate the success of the proposed method in extracting the maximum power from the fuel cell with high tracking performance.